The Deer Head Inn is a jazz club and inn located in

Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania Delaware Water Gap is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located adjacent to the Delaware Water Gap, the pass through which the Lackawanna Corridor and Interstate 80 run across the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border alon ...

. Established in the nineteenth century, the Deer Head Inn became the after hours, artistic home for jazz musicians who worked in the Pocono Mountain Resorts in the mid-twentieth century. Artists have included:

Zoot Sims John Haley "Zoot" Sims (October 29, 1925 – March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto (and, later, soprano) saxophone. He first gained attention in the "Four Brothers" sax section of Woody Herman's big ...

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...

, Urbie Green,

Dave Liebman David Liebman (born September 4, 1946) is an American saxophonist, flautist and jazz educator. He is known for his innovative lines and use of atonality. He was a frequent collaborator with pianist Richie Beirach. In June 2010, he received a N ...

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a ...

Bill Charlap William Morrison Charlap (born October 15, 1966, pronounced "Shar-Lap") is an American jazz pianist. In 2016, '' The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern'', an album produced by Charlap and Tony Bennett, won the award for Best Traditional Pop V ...

Bill Goodwin (jazz Drummer) F. Bill Goodwin (born Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1942) is an American jazz drummer. Career Goodwin began his professional career at the age of seventeen with saxophonist Charles Lloyd. During the 1960s, he worked with Mike Melvoin, A ...

, and

Bob Dorough Robert Lrod Dorough (December 12, 1923 – April 23, 2018) was an American bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, composer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. Dorough became famous as the composer and performer of songs in the TV series ''School ...

. In 1992, pianist Keith Jarrett recorded the live album ''

At the Deer Head Inn ''At the Deer Head Inn'' is a live album by American pianist Keith Jarrett with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian recorded in concert in September 1992 in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania at the Deer Head Inn and released by ECM Records in 1994. The al ...

'' there. The performance was to relaunch the club under new owners. Prior to the piano recording, when Jarrett played, he usually sat in on drums. Pianist

John Coates Jr. John Francis Coates Jr. (February 17, 1938 – November 22, 2017) was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger. He regularly performed at the Deer Head Inn and the Celebration of the Arts in the Pocono Mountains for over 50 years. Ea ...

played at the club for around 50 years, beginning in 1956. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he recorded several albums there. Woods became a frequent performer at the club after moving to the area in the early 1970s. The Deer Head, originally named the Central House, was built in the 1840s. It was bought by Mary Carrig, Dennis Carrig, Robert Mancuso, and Jason Wilson in 2005. Prior to them, the Lehr Family owned it for many years. A short history of the Inn and its importance to the jazz legacy of the region is discussed in the 2011 book ''The Poconos in B Flat''.

References

External links

Deer Head Inn official site
{{coord, 40.983015, -75.140738, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title Buildings and structures in Monroe County, Pennsylvania Music venues in Pennsylvania Delaware Water Gap Jazz clubs in the United States