Smalls Jazz Club is ajazz club at 183 West 10th Street,Greenwich Village, New York City.[1][2] Established in 1994,[3] it earned a reputation in the 1990s as a "hotbed for New York's jazz talent" with a "well-deserved reputation as one of the best places in the city to see rising talent in the New York jazz scene".[4][5] Its jazz musicians are noted for being "talented, though largely unknown" while its music is characterized as "modern versions ofbebop andhard bop".[6] The club's main room is in a basement with a capacity of 50 people[7] that expanded to 60 people.[8]
Smalls Jazz Club was established in 1994 by Mitchell "Mitch" Borden, a former submariner and nurse.[3] Its target audience was characterized as young,bohemian, and talkative. Music commenced every night at 10:30 and at times lasted until 6:00 the following morning.
Financial difficulties led Borden to close Smalls on May 31, 2003. The closing was due to declining attendance after theSeptember 11 attacks, rent increases in this neighborhood, and asmoking ban in indoor public places imposed by MayorMichael Bloomberg. Concerts were moved into the Fat Cat Club next door,[11] which was open four nights a week until 2:00 AM. In 2004, theBrooklyn Jazz Underground premiered with four shows at Smalls.[12]
In 2013, the club started recording and streaming its daily performances over the internet.[15] For a subscription fee, audiences could watch archived videos and live performances.[15] The revenues generated from this subscription are split with artists.[15]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the club shifted to live-streaming daily performances over the internet, with minimal audiences allowed at times.[16][17] The SmallsLive Foundation was created to receive sponsorships for these performances.[16]
Since 2007 the club has had record label produced by Luke Kaven,.[10] The new owners of Smalls created the label Smalls Live, which publishes some concerts at the club. It is distributed byHarmonia Mundi.
^Otis, Ginger Adams; Greenfield, Beth; Louis, Regis St. (1 August 2010).New York City. Lonely Planet. p. 309.ISBN978-1-74179-591-2. Retrieved9 April 2012.
^ab"About us".smallslive.com. Retrieved30 September 2018.
^Traditional Jazz Club of Toronto (2005).Coda. J. Norris. p. 33. Retrieved9 April 2012.
