Top 50 JAzz Blog

Friday, April 6, 2018

Boston Jazz Venues

With the help of a bunch of other people,  I compiled a list of venues in Boston that had live jazz, at least for a while. The list covers some ground, but is far from complete. Our good friend Dick Vacca has sent a new batch of entries, which you will see below my list. Be sure to check out his blog The Troy Street Observer
Izzy Ort's bar and Grill

1369 Club,
Accurate Records Loft, 
Ahmed's,
Arbor House, 
Ark of the Covenant, 
Back Bay Hilton,  
Backstreet,
Beantown Jazz Festival, 
Bebop, 
Beehive, 
Bella Luna, 
Berklee, 
Betty's Rolls Royce, 
Boston Arts Festival
Boston Conservatory at Berklee. 
Boston Globe Jazz Festival, 
BPL, 
Brothers in Brookline, 
CasaBlanca, 
CCP Studios, 
Charles St. Playhouse, 
Choppin Blok, 
Club 47
Club Zircon, 
Connelly's, 
Copley Plaza Bar, 
Costello's, 
Cronins, 
Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen, 
Debbie's, 
Doyle's, 
Elbow Room, 
Ellis Room, 
Essex Hotel bar, 
Estelle's, 
Fairmount Grille, 
Friends of Great Black Music loft, 
Gallery East, 
Goodlife, 
Greene St Grill Cambridge,) Green St,( JP), 
Hasty Pudding, 
Hi Lo Lounge, 
Hotel Avery,
Hyde Park Jazz Festival, 
Inn Square Men's Bar. 
Izzy Ort's
Jazz Workshop/Pall's Mall, 
Joes, 
Johnny D's, 
Jonathan Swift's, 
Kresge Auditorium
Lennie's on the Turnpike, 
Les Zygomates, 
Lilypad,
Lizard Lounge, 
lue Parrot, 
Lulu White's, 
Magnolia Loft. 
Merry Go Round at the Copley Plaza, 
Michael's, 
Middle East Corner, 
Midway, 
Modern Theater, 
Most of the strip clubs had Hammond Trios, 
NEC, 
Nightstage, 
OCBC, 
Outpost 186,
Oxford Ale house, 
Paine Hall, 
Paris 25, 
Parker House, 
Performance Center in the Garage, 
Playground Series at the loft on Harrison Ave, 
Playland,
Plough and Stars, 
Pooh's Pub, 
Ramsey/Toy VFW Post, Dorchester, 
Real Deal jazz club at the Cambridge Multicultural Center, 
Regattabar, 
Rise Club
Ryles, 
Sandy's, 
Satch's, 
Savoy
Scotch and Sirloin, 
Sculler's, 
Slades, 
Space, 
Speakeasy, 
Starlite Roof, 
Stone Soup, 
Storyville,
Streetfood, 
Studio Red Top, 
Sunflower Cafe, 
Swifts, 
the (old)Winery, 
Thelonius Monkfish, 
Third Life Studio, 
Top of the Hub, 
various churches and libraries.
Village Smokehouse in Brookline, 
Vouros Bakery
Wally's, 
WBUR,
Wendy's
Western Front, 
WGBH, 
Willow, 
Wurst Haus, 
Your Father's Moustache
Zeitgeist Gallery 


From Dick:
These are mainly Boston jazz venues, or suburban spots inside Route 495, in operation from 1972 onward, but there are a few from the 1960s. Individual schools and churches are not included. And there were rock rooms like the Channel and the Paradise that had jazz on occasion, but not often enough to make the list.

Downtown Crossing/State St/Quincy Mkt
Bay Tower Room
Cafe Fleuri, Meridien Hotel
Chez Freddie
City Hall Plaza
Concerts on the Common
Cricket's
Gallagher's
Lily's
Michael's Waterfront
Sir Harry's

Theatre District
1-2-3 Lounge
Bradford Hotel Grand Ballroom
Caribe Lounge
Four Corners
Stuart Manor
The Vagabond
Tic Toc
Varty's Jazz Room

Park Square
Number 3 Lounge
Playboy Club
Saxony
The Other Side

Back Bay
Danny's
Darbury Room, became The Point After
Hatch Shell
Hotel Eliot Lounge
ICA Theatre
Jason's
Lenox Hotel
My Apartment Lounge
Office Lounge
Turner Fisheries

Huntington Ave
Club Symphony
Gardner Museum
Museum of Fine Arts
Zachary's

Roxbury/South End
Desert Lounge
Handy's Grill
Juice and Jazz
Piano Factory
Pioneer Club
Rainbow Lounge
Savoy on the Hill
The Station
Tinker's

Dorchester
Playhouse in the Park (Elma Lewis, Franklin Park)
Strand Theatre

Kenmore Square
Kix
Cafe Yana

East Boston
Airport Hilton
P.J.'s Lounge

Brookline/Brighton
Kismet Lounge
Papillon
Walters

Cambridge/Somerville
Atrium Lounge
Cantares
Lai-Lai
Spinnaker Lounge (Hyatt)
Springfields
Turtle Cafe

West of Boston
Bonfire, Westborough
Colonial Inn, Concord
Cottage Crest, Waltham
Decordova Museum, Lincoln
Ephriam's, Sudbury
Finally Michael's, Framingham
Matrix, Natick
Piety Corner Gardens, Waltham
Sticky Wicket, Hopkinton

North of Boston
Buddy's, Revere
Cafe Beaujolais, Gloucester
Club Caravan, Revere
Ebb Tide, Revere Beach
Lakeside, Topsfield
Oceanside Jazz and Big Band Festival, Winthrop
Romie's, Danvers
Stouffer's Bedford Glen Hotel, Bedford
The Surf, Revere Beach
Wagon Wheels, West Peabody

South of Boston
Boston Jazz Society's Jazz BBQ
Joseph's, Braintree
Great Woods Performance Center

Water Music's Jazz Boat

And you could always call the Jazzline at 262-1300

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

A couple for the list:

Hi Hat Club

suburban, so may be out of scope, Lennie's on the Turnpike

Steve Provizer said...

Thanks for the comment. Lennie's is already on the list-suburban, but too important to leave off.

nocam said...

I don't remember how much of the music at The Performance Center (3rd floor of The Garage in Harvard Sq, early 1970s) was jazz, but I do remember seeing Dizzy Gillespie play with the MJQ for part of their first set before he had to leave to catch a plane.

nocam said...

I don't remember how much of the music at The Performance Center (3rd floor of The Garage in Harvard Sq, early 1970s) was jazz, but I do remember seeing Dizzy Gillespie play with the MJQ for part of their first set before he had to leave to catch a plane.

larryu said...

I'm late to this:

1. I heard John Coltrane at MIT's Kresge Auditorium in the late 60s(just before he died). Is that location on the list?

2. what was the name of the place on Dover St that you could see from the elevated train. I remember Redd Foxx was there quite a bit. I'm assuming there was jazz too.

Steve Provizer said...

No, for some reason, Kresge is not on the list, although it certainly should be and I'll add it. As fas as Dover St., nothing comes to mind, but according to Dick Vacca; "if you go one station south, to Northampton, you're at Washington and Mass Ave and your club would be Basin Street South."

Anonymous said...

The Ellis Room is still there and still has live music all the time

Steve Provizer said...

Thanks. It certainly is and does.

John C. said...

There was a place called Wendy's (not the fast food joint) near Government Center in the early 70s. I remember playing there in a big band.

Steve Provizer said...

Wow-Good catch.