New jazz club Mezzrow opens its doors in Greenwich Village this summer. Mezzrow is a small basement a piano room perfect for close listening to soloists and small groups. The club is aptly named after Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, a clarinetist and saxophonist mostly known for his 1946 autobiography, Really The Blues.
“I call it ‘a Greenwich Village listening room and lounge,’ ” said jazz pianist Spike Wilner. Wilner opened the club in partnership with Mitch Borden as a reflection of sorts to his club Smalls. Both clubs are on the same side of the street across Seventh Avenue South.
The space, beautifully furnished with Italian marble floors and a Prohibition-era mahogany bar, will feature jazz bookings at a $20 cover charge. The space is a warm welcomed gift to the Manhattan Jazz scene post Bradley’s closing in 1996.
“This really fulfills a niche that hasn’t been fulfilled since Bradley’s,” said the saxophonist Joel Frahm, who stopped by Mezzrow before a gig at Smalls. “I like that it’s all acoustic in here. I like the size of it, I like that it’s going to be a duo room.”
Bradley’s was at one point home to Wilner himself, in addition to many great New York jazz pianists such as Hank Jones, James Williams and John Hicks.
Wilner says the start of Mezzrow happened when he noticed a “Basement Space for Rent” sign along West 10th Street last November. Once He inquired about the space that used to be Tanti Baci Caffè he immediately felt he found his club. Following an approved neighborhood petition and renovation, a 1923 Steinway piano was placed at the back of the room and as they say, the rest is history. Hopefully.
To get an idea of what’s in store, watch below a performance of the Spike Wilner Trio live at the Padova Jazz Festival.
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