Danny Bensusan opened the Blue Note in Greenwich Village in 1981 and helped it quickly became home to some of the biggest names in jazz. Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Oscar Peterson and Lionel Hampton are just some of the iconic acts who played there, and Chick Corea, Peterson, Keith Jarrett and James Carter recorded live records there.<\/p>\n
Now, 44 years later, Danny\u2019s son Steven is bringing the Blue Note to Hollywood. The venue, which has locations in Waikiki, Milan, Napa, Tokyo and more, will finally open its doors Thursday, with Blue Note staple and ambassador Robert Glasper doing two sets each Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an important market for us,\u201d Steven Bensusan tells The Times. \u201cA lot of the industry is based there. It\u2019s a major city and we want to establish ourselves there as the West Coast hub.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like everything in L.A. this chaotic year, the club\u2019s journey has been tumultuous. Originally scheduled to open in late March, the Blue Note\u2019s premiere was delayed because of construction delays following the wildfires in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very sensitive to the situation,\u201d Bensusan says. \u201cWe also didn\u2019t want to rush at that point, as well. So, it was delayed \u2014 construction delays, permitting delays, everything like that. But we didn\u2019t want to rush to get it open.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original March 26 date was so locked in that the club\u2019s director of programming and talent buyer, Alex Kurland, had booked almost the whole year out from that date. So, when everything was pushed back by more than four months, Kurland had to rebook the entire schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a balance and it\u2019s a puzzle. It\u2019s a combination of rebooking, reorganizing when acts are available and what makes sense for acts, Kurland says. \u201cThere isn\u2019t one situation or scenario that results from how everything unfolds. Some acts we definitely did lose for sure because they needed to play their market play or they just couldn\u2019t make it to the West Coast. Luckily, everyone was very understanding and accommodating.\u201d<\/p>\n
The one thing they did know was that whenever the venue was ready for opening night, the headliner would be longtime Blue Note favorite Robert Glasper.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Grammy-winning jazz pianist and composer Robert Glasper will be the first act to perform at the Blue Note L.A. <\/p>\n
(Jay L. Clendenin \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were not going to open the club without Glasper being the opening talent. We have a very deep relationship and alignment with him, and he wanted to open it,\u201d Kurland says. \u201cIt\u2019s a partnership and we\u2019re all in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glasper has become synonymous with Blue Note through his annual October residency in New York City, known as \u201cRobtober,\u201d and curating the Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa at the end of August.<\/p>\n
While Glasper takes over the New York City location once a year, everyone involved is adamant that the Blue Note Los Angeles will very much reflect L.A. in every way and be a completely distinct entity.<\/p>\n
\u201cL.A. culture itself, the artists that are from L.A. and represent L.A. and the soul of L.A., but that\u2019s going to change the vibe of the Blue Note anyway, <\/b>because we\u2019re definitely going to incorporate a lot of that,\u201d Glasper, the cultural ambassador and a partner in the L.A. location, says. \u201cWe want L.A. to feel like it\u2019s L.A.\u2019s Blue Note, not like Blue Note New York moved to L.A. We\u2019re trying to give L.A. its own voice through the Blue Note.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Kurland, that plan is already in effect and will continue to very much be reflected in the booking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are acts that are within the lineup that have not played at a Blue Note previously, and that\u2019s really important that we\u2019re engaging talent and artists that are having their debut moments within a Blue Note just because L.A. is going to be a very fresh and progressive approach to booking and programming,\u201d he says. \u201cSo not just booking acts that we have pre-existing history with but really focusing on talent that we are building new relationships with and talent that are having their initial new experiences in the Blue Note, maybe acts that you typically see playing in much bigger venues, acts like Charlie Puth, acts like Ben Folds.\u201d<\/p>\n
A huge part of the Blue Note aesthetic is making unique moments through unique collaborations or unannounced guests, like Stevie Wonder or John Mayer jumping onstage after sitting in the audience.<\/p>\n
Both Glasper and Kurland are advocating heavily for and expect a lot of those moments with L.A. musicians.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The soon-to-be opened Blue Note Jazz Club undergoes construction at the Cinerama Dome on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. <\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cCollaboration is a huge goal every single day always from a programming standpoint and thinking about the booking more as moments rather than just the transaction of filling dates on the calendar,\u201d Kurland says. \u201cReally being particular about how to maximize really special bookings that that are not just on tour and not just available, but that are curated and programmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glasper has his dream jam. \u201cI would love for Stevie Wonder to come in there and just do music he wants to do that\u2019s not even his. Everybody gets to see Stevie do Stevie, but I know Stevie would love to just do music he appreciates including jazz music, he can go in there and just do a piano trio night. That\u2019s my number one in my mind. Number two is having Stevie join Herbie [Hancock] together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bensusan points out the L.A. menu will also differ, with many more vegan options than the New York location, and distinctly L.A. options such as Peruvian scallops and a crispy rice tuna taco.<\/p>\n
However, the greatest difference, Bensusan points out, is the L.A. location will be the first with two rooms, an A-room for the headliners, and a B-room for developing artists and surprise jams, podcasts, whatever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m also looking forward to really opening our first club with that second room that we\u2019re calling the B side, which we\u2019ll be able to experiment with and book younger artists that maybe can\u2019t draw in the bigger room and then help develop them so that they can, and giving them the exposure within our marketing and our advertising efforts and help give them more gigs,\u201d Bensusan says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat room will serve multiple purposes. Yes, it will be an opportunity to put on and place developing acts that are not big enough necessarily to play the Blue Note, but that can grow to play the Blue Note, or acts that are engaging in underplays,\u201d Kurland adds. \u201cAlso thinking about programming that room next to the Blue Note, and maybe there\u2019s a holistic connection between the act playing in the Blue Note. For example, maybe Robert\u2019s playing in the Blue Note room, and Battlecat is DJing in the B side. We\u2019re thinking intentionally about how to elevate the vibe and elevate the curating. It\u2019s connected.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Glasper, having the two rooms is key for his goal as cultural ambassador \u2014 making the Blue Note the spot in L.A. for musicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cL.A. is a big a\u2014 ocean of talent and legends. It just started lacking a place for everybody to let their creativity out. And I want Blue Note to be that place,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to start a jam session for a certain night there. So, everybody knows nightly you can go here because they used to have that in L.A. You knew on Tuesday night, you can go to this place or Monday nights you go to that place for jamming, It\u2019s going to be an opportunity for so many people, to have a place to be and enjoy all the things.\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as Bensusan, Glasper and Kurland agree on Blue Note L.A. being a multi-faceted facility, Bensusan\u2019s ultimate goal at the end of the day is no different than his dad\u2019s 44 years ago in New York. \u201cWe want to create the mecca for jazz in L.A.,\u201d he says proudly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danny Bensusan opened the Blue Note in Greenwich Village in 1981 and helped it quickly became home to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[82221,8067,82220,1582,276,462,82224,82227,82223,82222,6276,82226,2961,224,5337,6566,9099,47172,82225,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-136799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-alex-kurland","9":"tag-artist","10":"tag-blue-note","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-club","14":"tag-danny-bensusan","15":"tag-debut-moment","16":"tag-glasper","17":"tag-iconic-act","18":"tag-l-a","19":"tag-l-a-jazz","20":"tag-la","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-losangeles","23":"tag-place","24":"tag-room","25":"tag-stevie-wonder","26":"tag-talent-buyer","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115009888827433192","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}