About the Jazz Forum Club
We are a community held together by the artistry of Jazz musicians and our patrons’ love of live music.
Thank you all for the past years of Jazz memories, and future memories to be made.
2015-2017: A Labor of Love
For 800 days, we cut parking deals, hosted backhoe operators, went to village meetings, got permits, collected peculiar objects and tasted wine. What would we have done without that wine?!
Thanks to our architect Steve Tilly, contractor Greg Beyl, painter and best friend, Tony Giuliano and Jeff Johnson who built our stunning bars and tables.
2016-2017: Warming Up
Before the construction was finished, folks experienced the space at several pre-opening events including David Amram’s Birthday Bash, a New Year’s Eve celebration and the first RiverArts Music Tour event in Tarrytown.
Thanks to our friends Janet Roseff and Jen Ross for decorating the walls and to everyone who joined us for the pre-opening celebrations!
June 9, 2017: Roy Hargrove Quintet Opens the Club!
The late Roy Hargrove excited the capacity crowds for our first weekend at the club.
The launch of the club was made possible by the amazing and generous 60+ Charter Donors who contributed over $160,000.
It was our dream but the commitment and confidence of our Charter Donors told us it was what you wanted!
Photos by Doug Schneider. Click to expand.
June 9, 2018: 88 Keys
Celebrating our 1st anniversary, we enlisted Grammy-winning pianist and frequent Jazz Forum performer Bill Charlap to select a Steinway B Classic Grand Piano at the Steinway factory in Long Island City. Bill played Chopin, Fats Waller, Bernstein, Monk, Duke Ellington and Gershwin to select the best instrument for the club.
The installation was a speedy affair.
A special 88 Keys fundraising campaign raised $88,000 from our devoted patrons to buy the piano.
Bill and Mark tried many pianos to find the best one for the club. The room at the factory was all white!
The 88 keys donor plaque before our donors’ names were affixed to their corresponding keys.
2019-2020: Community Engagement During the Pandemic
100+ Live Streams
We offered over one hundred live streams, most of them for free.
Julius Rodriguez Quintet Live Stream Benefit Fundraiser for NAACP ACT-SO.
Community Outreach
We hosted a virtual fundraiser for the Dobbs Ferry Food Pantry.
2021: We Finally Launched Jitterbugs, In-Person
We were finally able to bring our Early Childhood Educational program Jitterbugs to the club, after being online for over a year.
Led by Neal Spitzer, we began introducing 2-7 year old children together with their families to the amazing world of Jazz!
The program won ArtsWestchester’s 2021 Education Arts Award.
Bright Moments
2017-2020
2021-2022
The joy of presenting the finest artists – both celebrated and less well-known – is even richer when we see the pleasure of audience members listening, watching, tapping their feet, closing their eyes, clapping their hands, and standing for ovations.
Joe Lovano, Eliane Elias, Catherine Russell, Paquito D’Rivera, Monty Alexander, Bill Charlap, Ann Hampton Callaway, John Pizzarelli, George Coleman, Nicholas Payton, Roberta Gambarini, Samara Joy and so many others. Thank you, brilliant musicians and marvelous audience members.
In Memoriam
We were honored to present so many spectacular artists who have since passed away.
Our audiences loved hearing them live, especially at the club (as did we!). Thank goodness their recordings will live on forever: Roy Hargrove, Wallace Roney, Barry Harris, Jimmy Cobb, Freddy Cole, Lee Konitz, Candido, Vic Juris, Sonny Fortune and Joey DeFrancesco.
Serendipity and Objects of Love
The physical space of the club reflects the love in the room, the eclectic taste of the Jazz Forum Club Manager Ellen Prior’s parents, and the friendships formed over the years.
The Pool Table
Donated by dear friends, Lee Eiferman and Tim Duch, who found it in the “game room” of the Knights of Columbus building they bought on N. Washington Avenue. Their junk is our delight!
The “Don’t Walk” sign
Donated by Bob Plotkin, friend and photographer who “found” it 35 years ago at 116th and Broadway as they were trading these for digital signs. Electrified by our contractor, Greg Beyl. A near perfect reminder of our adage: “We are a listening room.”
Dizzy’s Trumpet
The physical space of the club reflects the love in the room, the eclectic taste of Ellen Prior’s parents, and the friendships formed over the years.
The Flying Woman
A gift from Mark to Ellen in the planning stages of the club. It was in Hank’s Alley (an antique store and institution in Tarrytown) for years and Ellen always coveted it.
She has such perfect breasts and wings to embrace us all.
