Inside Brooklyn's ‘unique' jazz haven where Duke Ellington meets viral fame and all ages sit down, enjoy the music: 'It's so special'

New York Post

3 days ago

Step inside this Bed-Stuy brownstone and you'll swear you've been whisked back to a jazz venue in 1940s Brooklyn.
Housed in a 19th-century home with floral drapes, moody lamps and live music, this intimate Victorian parlor revives the borough's storied musical roots — no time machine required.
Welcome to BrownstoneJAZZ, the romantic, toe-tapping hot spot that's putting Brooklyn back on the jazz map — and picking up a new generation of fans on Instagram and TikTok in the process.
The venue at 107 Macon St. — founded by newly crowned 'jazz hero' Debbie McClain and co-owner and music director Eric Lemons — is part speakeasy, part stage, part black history museum.
And every weekend, it transforms into a swinging tribute to the borough's deep jazz legacy.
9 Debbie McClain and Eric Lemons are two lifelong jazz fans who preserve the history of the genre in Bed-Stuy at BrownstoneJAZZ.
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'Most people who live in Bed-Stuy don't know what was once here. There were major recordings and performances in this neighborhood that impacted the whole musical world,' Lemons told The Post.
Inside the performance room, a trio of glowing lamps — one purple, one orange, one green — bathe the 'ballroom,' as McClain calls it, in a mesmerizing, ethereal glow.
9 During a recent performance, Patience Higgins (from left) played saxophone, Yovanne Pierre took to the piano, Lemons held down the bass, Kathryn Farmer delivered vocals, and Bruce Cox kept time on drums.
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Ornate white floral molding lines the walls, flanked by vintage mirrors, tasseled paisley sconces, angel-footed lamps and a framed black-and-white shot of Billie Holiday mid-performance in 1947.
With an upright grand piano, double bass, drum set and vinyl records from Scott Joplin to John Coltrane on display, the whole space feels like a jazz lover's dream frozen in time — just how McClain planned it.
'This venue is so unique and special because when you enter it, you feel as if you're stepping back in time,' singer and BrownstoneJAZZ performer Kathryn Farmer told The Post.
9 Singer and violinist Mimi Block performs with Higgins (left) and Pierre.
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On a recent steamy Saturday night, Farmer took the mike alongside a lineup of local legends, which rotate every week — Patience Higgins on sax, Bruce Cox on drums, Yovanne Pierre on piano and Lemons on bass — for a soul-stirring set that had the audience swaying, snapping and erupting into applause after every tune.
Farmer dazzled with a riveting take on George Gershwin's 'Summertime,' while singer and violinist Mimi Block later scatted and bowed her way through the blues classic 'I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water' while backed by the band.
'Our performances are a combination of planned songs and improv,' Higgins, who played with Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder, told The Post. 'Sometimes we even take audience requests.'
That spontaneity, paired with the parlor's plush ambience, creates a spellbinding effect — one that has been taking place for 16 years.
Step into the parlor
9 Tucked inside a spruced-up brownstone at 107 Macon St., this Bed-Stuy jazz joint doubles as a stage and a black history museum.
Olga Ginzburg for N.Y. Post
Born in Harlem and raised in Brooklyn, McClain grew up tickling the ivories and belting out ballads — performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and singing with the All-City Schools Choir.
BrownstoneJAZZ came to life in 2010 after McClain turned the family home into a bed and breakfast called Sankofa Aban.
So it was no surprise when, a year after opening the B&B, she transformed the backyard of the home into a jazz haven, known as Jazz Under the Stars, to honor her and her family's love of the genre.
'Music has always been so important to our family, and so has this brownstone,' said McClain's brother, Arnold McDonald, who helps check tickets and greet guests at each show.
McClain met her friend and co-owner, Lemons, when she hired him to play bass for those early backyard sets. 'He actually convinced me to bring the music into the parlor, and 16 years later, here we are,' she told The Post.
Now called the BrownstoneJAZZ Weekend Concert Series, McClain and Lemons usually sell out four shows a weekend: Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., and Sunday 'after-brunch' sets at 4 and 6 p.m. — with tickets priced at $55.30.
9 Dubbed the BrownstoneJAZZ Weekend Concert Series, McClain and Lemons pack the house every weekend.
Olga Ginzburg for N.Y. Post
9 It's been years of velvet chairs, vintage rugs and family portraits setting the mood — but it's the live jazz that keeps guests under its spell.
Olga Ginzburg for N.Y. Post
It's 'dress-to-impress' but far from stuffy. The venue doesn't serve alcohol or food, so guests BYOBB — that's 'bring your own brown bag' — and sip discreetly while the band plays.
What began as a modest open mic has grown into a tightly curated concert room — with McClain and Lemons now booking genre heavy-hitters on the regular, like Higgins, saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding, nine-time Grammy-nominated percussionist Bobby Sanabria, vocalist Carla Cook, and the late trombonist Kiane Zawadi.
After a pandemic pause, BrownstoneJAZZ experienced a major resurgence in 2023, thanks to viral buzz and a growing Gen Z fanbase.
'Many of them aren't even huge jazz fans — they just saw a clip on social media and want to feel the energy and hear the music in person,' Lemons told The Post.
And once they're inside, he makes sure they leave with more than just a great set.
'Real jazz' in Bed-Stuy
9 Lemons tells audience members about the history of jazz in Bed-Stuy.
Olga Ginzburg for N.Y. Post
Each night, Lemons delivers a monologue full of jazz history and Bed-Stuy pride.
He tells audiences how bebop was born right here, how Lena Horne lived on this street and how the borough rivaled Manhattan's jazz scene with 27 clubs in the '60s.
Back then, Bed-Stuy boasted more than 20 bustling jazz joints, Lemons told The Post.
Bed-Stuy's jazz roots run deep. The neighborhood once rivaled Harlem with its booming mid-century scene. Legendary jazz drummer Max Roach was raised in Bed-Stuy and helped pioneer the bebop style of jazz.
'They [music historians] always talk about Midtown and Harlem and Manhattan. If you were around in the '40s and wanted to hear real jazz, you'd come to Bed-Stuy.'
Today, BrownstoneJAZZ is carrying that torch, being the only Bed-Stuy venue that plays classic 1940s and 1950s-style American jazz.
For Lemons, jazz is more than music — it's an American art form, a cultural lifeline, and a story too few have heard.
9 Pierre (left), Lemons and Cox perform to an energetic audience.
Olga Ginzburg for N.Y. Post
'It's important,' he told The Post, 'because most people never learn about black excellence and contributions to music in school.'
BrownstoneJAZZ, he said, is helping fix that.
'There are very few jazz venues that are still black-owned in New York City like ours is,' Lemons said. 'That tells us we have a lot of work to do in preserving history.'
'Being shared among generations'
The work is paying off. Lemons said that 95% of their audience is made up of 'out-of-towners' — from Ohio to Poland to Switzerland — and many discover the venue through social media.
9 Audience members are captivated by the performance.
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'I heard about BrownstoneJAZZ thanks to my algorithm on Facebook, and my daughter bought me a ticket for my birthday,' H. Bosh Jr., an audience member, told The Post. 'I drove four hours to get here, from just outside of Schenectady. I love jazz, and this was so worth it.'
McClain sees it, too.
'This set is even younger than the last set,' she said as concertgoers trickled in for the 9:30 p.m. Saturday show.
McClain and Lemons are proud of the show they put on — especially when they witness audience members absorbing the energy 'we've been feeling for years,' Lemons told The Post.
'When they actually listen, put their phones down and focus on our music, it's so special,' he said.
'Sometimes I'll see younger people in the audience return for more shows with their older family members, and that's so meaningful to me — to see jazz being shared among generations.'