Brooklyn Jazz Underground is a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
association founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 2007. The association was formed by ten musicians to promote their work.
In 2008,
Anne Mette Iversen and Alexis Cuadrado of the Brooklyn Jazz Underground started the sister company, the record label Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records.
Founding members of the association include Tanya Kalmanovitch, Alan Ferber, Alexis Cuadrado,
Shane Endsley, Benny Lackner, Dan Pratt, Jerome Sabbagh, Anne Mette Iversen,
Sunny Jain, and Ted Poor. In 2006, Kalmanovitch talked about the idea with Ferber and Cuadrado. They began their venture with performances at
Smalls Jazz Club
Smalls Jazz Club is a jazz club at 183 West 10th Street, Greenwich Village, New York City. Established in 1994, 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 ...
.
Other activities that the BJU established and has hosted are weekly concert series at th
Sycamore Bar & Flowershopand at The Tea Lounge, both in Brooklyn; a series of podcasts about the band members; benefits for schools; five CD samplers; the annual Brooklyn Jazz Underground Jazz Festival; and two albums as the Brooklyn Jazz Underground Ensemble, the CDs ''A Portrait of Brooklyn'' and ''7x7''.
The record label was founded in 2008 with the intent to give musicians more control over their work. Early albums included ''Puzzles'' by Alexis Cuadrado, ''Night for Day'' by Bernard Emer Lackner, and the double album ''Best of the West and Many Places'' by
Anne Mette Iversen.
Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records continued releasing albums steadily over the years, and by the beginning of 2019 they had 68 albums in their catalog.
References
External links
Official siteBrooklyn Jazz Underground Records
Musical collectives
American artist groups and collectives
American jazz ensembles from New York City
Arts organizations based in New York City
Jazz record labels
Organizations based in Brooklyn
Musical groups established in 2004
2004 establishments in New York City
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