![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2098-scaled.jpeg\")
Photos by Robin Cohn.<\/p>\n Photos by Robin Cohn.<\/p>\n
By Robin Cohn<\/strong><\/p>\n When my flight from Ft. Lauderdale arrived at LaGuardia Airport, I was met with a brass band with a \u201cWelcome Home!\u201d sign. Then, when I got to the car services, all the drivers begged, \u201cpick me, pick me to take you to the Upper West Side.\u201d<\/p>\n Okay, that didn\u2019t happen, but I\u2019ve been grinning since I arrived. No need for bells and whistles.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong. There\u2019s much to be said about spending winters in Florida, weather being the obvious one. And, if you love outdoor sports, it\u2019s the place to be. But not if you\u2019re a city girl.<\/p>\n Most living on the Upper West Side love it. But you have to be away to realize why. The air is sprayed with energy. The music, the fashion, the food, great conversations standing in line, dogs with NY attitudes. The weather\u2026never mind.<\/p>\n Talking about all the Upper West Side wonderfulness would wind up being the size of War and Peace, so right now, I\u2019m focusing on my heart being blessed with the sound of music. I don\u2019t mean Julie Andrews twirling in the Alps. Stop and listen; there\u2019s music everywhere, not just indoors in concert halls, but on the streets year-round.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not only students. Performing musicians are everywhere, playing and singing. And West Siders happily listen and applaud. There\u2019s the famous story of no one recognizing the world-famous young violinist Joshua Bell (who looked like a bar-mitzvah boy) playing in the DC Metro. Ha! Subway platforms would have been jammed if he had played here. I\u2019ve been a Jon Baptiste fan way back when he was in the Juilliard Jazz Band. You could watch him play whenever he spotted a piano. You have to wonder how many musicians we\u2019ve enjoyed before they became famous.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget all the theater, dance, and jazz musicians who grace our sidewalks. Right now, from my window, I\u2019m hearing a mean saxophone somewhere around West 67th Street. Or, there\u2019s my favorite classical guitar player Carlos at Bethesda Fountain. And you can hear Tony Danza sometimes singing outside at Manny\u2019s Bistro on Columbus Avenue.<\/p>\n And of course, there are free concerts all summer long. The Naumburg Concert series began its 120th season playing at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park. Lincoln Center\u2019s Summer for the City features all sorts of musical entertainment. And there are so many others. (Please add your favorites in the comments section.)<\/p>\n Music is part of the Upper West Side\u2019s DNA. You don\u2019t realize it until you go elsewhere when the only music you hear outside is from car radios. I know, I know. That might be a bit snarky. But I\u2019m really talking about the abundance of music here. I haven\u2019t mentioned the theater and dance that abound. The tenor and basso waiters singing Happy Birthday. The actor servers trying out accents when giving dinner specials. The ballet dancers walking in first position down the sidewalks. Well\u2026that\u2019s a story for another time.<\/p>\n Take it from me, the Upper West Side is a gift that keeps giving.<\/p>\n Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photos by Robin Cohn. By Robin Cohn When my flight from Ft. Lauderdale arrived at LaGuardia Airport, I…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,30784,11878,3717,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-38025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-free-music","10":"tag-live-music","11":"tag-musicians","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114794921138938037","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38025","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=38025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_0341-scaled-e1751488611857.jpeg\")
Where else do you see instrument-carrying students heading back and forth to Juilliard, wanting to practice? They play on street corners and subways earning more now thanks to Venmo than cash tips. Last Christmas, I watched a young woman in a Santa hat and coat playing the violin while hula-hooping. As they say, you don\u2019t get that back home.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2033-scaled.jpeg\")
Then, there are the little ones. The other night, I watched kids playing violins and cellos outside Alice Tully Hall. One little girl played the violin with her Dad.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_2047-1-scaled.jpeg\")
WQXR\u2019s Elliott Forrest interviewing Eric Jacobsen Artistic Director, The Knights .<\/p>\n