Thursday, February 15, 2007

Jazz at the Bistro makes Marsalis'
USA Today list of top 10 jazz clubs

Wynton Marsalis has certainly been around enough jazz clubs to know a good one when he sees it. And so it would seem to be a nice honor indeed for St. Louis' Jazz at the Bistro to have been named one of the Top 10 jazz clubs in America in this article from Thursday's USA Today, written by Kathy Baruffi based on the famed trumpeter's recommendations. .

There are some legendary rooms on the list, including the Green Mill in Chicago, Yoshi's in San Francisco, Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit, New Orleans' Snug Harbor and Blues Alley in Washington D.C.. I'd imagine that Gene Dobbs Bradford, Bob Bennett and the rest of the staff at Jazz St. Louis are quite pleased to be in such company, and indeed, they should be. Like any list of this sort, "10 great places to get jazzed about great jazz" is something of a travel-section PR gambit, but still, it's good to have a national newspaper saying this about JATB:
"The bookings are impeccable at this classy club; it's one of the best-managed places in the business," Marsalis says. There are no age restrictions, so everyone is welcome. Sit by the balcony rail upstairs and feel regal, as if you have your own box seat. Or, sit downstairs, a few rows from the stage, and feel like part of the music. It really draws you in.
One thing is a little odd: Though the article references Marsalis' job as director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City and plugs the Center's own small performance space, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, it doesn't mention any other NYC clubs. One would assume there are a number of NYC spots that potentially could be included in such a "10 Best" list, so perhaps Marsalis just wanted to avoid talking up the competition, so to speak. Or perhaps the editors just wanted to avoid being too New York-centric - it is "USA Today," after all.

Regardless, it's good publicity for Jazz St. Louis and a reminder that, all things considered, this is still a reasonably good city in which to hear quality jazz. You can read the whole article here.

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