Village Vanguard

whenever Ella Fitzgerald is on the radio again.

So you can't hold hands with your imaginary lover tonight through McDougal Street after a show at the Village Vanguard.

Whoop-de-freaking-do.

I'm positive you can get plenty of privacy at the Plaza with Cole Porter or get some sit-on-sin-lovin' by any old dumpster by any old Broadway theater dressing room, too.

And then when I came to New York in 1971, I was with Lionel Hampton.

I quit Lionel Hampton's band because Dizzy was gonna do two weeks at the Village Vanguard.

And I went to see Dizzy at the Village Vanguard.

I had written Dizzy a thank you card because Leonard Feather had contact information for all the musicians in the Encyclopedia of Jazz.

And I sent it to Dizzy, but I think it went to his, home in Corona where he'd lived around the corner from Louis Armstrong.

Oh, is that right? Okay.

I told him, you should go over to the Village Vanguard.

It's a great jazz club.

I'd love to go if I was ever in New York.

I'm going to go see William Burroughs read tomorrow.

I'm going to go see Ross on Roland Kirk at the Village Vanguard on Friday.

You know, it was like that.

I was just so into it and having a good time in my early 20s.

Dee Dee Bridgewater with Bill Sharlop.

They recorded this at the Village Vanguard, and we heard the 2025 album Elemental and the tune Beginning to See the Light.

This tune dates back to 1944, with the credits going to Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Harry James, and the lyricist Don George.

Dave Holland and the tune Not For Nothing.

And the tradition there is what you deride in your memoir as pop.

listening rooms like the village vanguard which we were talking about a little bit earlier i never realized until i went to jazz texas the first time that you could eat in front of a jazz performance and i remember being surprised when the weight person came up and to take our order and give us menus and i thought we're now we're here to hear doc i've certainly heard you many times in the bar at bohannon's but but that was different so you're getting people to Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That's a concept.

We're going to play some blues.

We're going to do all kinds of things.

And we're going to do exactly the type of thing that we would play if we were at the Village Vanguard.

So the But the question of art and business is really important to me.

But first, some living history about one of our most beloved local jazz clubs.

The Village Vanguard is a place where jazz lives.

Since 1935, the Vanguard has been family-run, first by founder Max Gordon, then by his wife Lorraine, and now by his daughter Debra.

Deborah Gordon has written a new book about the family business.

It's titled Last of the Jazz Joints, An Incomplete History of the Village Vanguard.

The book compiles photographs, interviews, and memories to tell the story of a club that has helped launch the careers of artists like Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, and Harry Belafonte, as well as actors, poets, and comedians like Judy Holliday, Jack Kerouac, and Lenny Bruce.

It also tells the story of Max Gordon.

an immigrant from Lithuania who tried and failed to make it in New York before turning a tiny Greenwich Village basement into an internationally celebrated destination for jazz lovers.

A downbeat critics poll named him the 2026 Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, and Lewis also received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Music Composition this year.

Meanwhile, this past July, his quartet had the honor of performing a week-long residency at the historic Village Vanguard Jazz Club in New York.

It's been a remarkable year for Lewis, and it's not done yet.

yet on october 23rd 2026 tau forms released the third album in lewis's red lily project series which pays tribute to different historical figures and in this case he assembled a remarkable ensemble to honor the 19th century czech composer antonin dvorak making a record inspired by his works that already feels like a timeless classic.

sure well deserved James congratulations again thank

you thank you so much

and then also I would be remiss if I didn't mention this because I think the last time you were on the show with the aesthetics you were excited about some dates you had at the Village Vanguard with your quartet yeah and that happened how was that experience

Oh, that was amazing.