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D.C. jazz institution Blues Alley celebrates 60 years in Georgetown

Blues Alley, the Georgetown jazz club whose stage has been graced by Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck and countless other jazz luminaries, is turning 60. That milestone belies another: that Blues Alley is the oldest continuously operating jazz supper club in the U.S., according to owner Harry Schnipper. The venue located in a carriage house in an alley behind Wisconsin Avenue NW was opened in 1965 by founder Tommy Gwaltney. Over the years, it adapted to the changing times and appetites for different types of jazz. Schipper has been its owner since 1997. He has organized a blockbuster lineup for the anniversary with the theme 'The House that Dizzy Built.' Blues Alley will build on its annual Brazilian Jazz Series this year with several other Latin embassy jazz series for Hispanic Heritage Month, including Chilean, Peruvian, and Cuban jazz artists playing in September and October. Starting with the week of the July 21 anniversary itself, the venue will begin a series called Decades of Divas featuring several vocalists singing in different styles of the different decades of the venue's tenure. Performances include two nights of shows from jazz icon Melba Moore on July 24-25, and two nights of Jane Monheit on July 26-27. Kicking it off on July 21 will be Clara Campbell, the winner of the international Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocalist Competition, which Blues Alley sponsors. Tickets to all shows are available on Blues Alley's website. Schnipper founded the competition in 2016 to continue to raise Blues Alley's profile, and in part to increase interest in jazz music among the next generation of musicians. The competition now receives hundreds of entrants annually from around the world. Campbell is from the U.S., but this year's second place winner from India and fourth place was from Belarus. 'Ella Fitzgerald's name continues to resonate for future generations, and this competition allows me to identify the future generations of emerging vocalists who will go on to achieve prominence,' Schnipper said. The competition is just one part of the venue's nonprofit efforts. The Blues Alley Jazz Society, which organizes the Blues Alley Youth Orchestra, summer jazz camps, and other events for young people, turns 30 next year, and has been a huge part of the ongoing sustainability of Blues Alley says Schnipper. Gillespie himself helped with the youth orchestra in the '90s, after famously declaring Blues Alley a quintessential jazz club in the 1970s. expandPhoto courtesy Blues Alley expand 'Dizzy Gillespie was the first one to assist us in founding our youth orchestra back in the 1990s, and he was instrumental in educating me that if we don't invest in the future of jazz music, there will be no listeners and there will be no performers,' Schnipper said. 'So it's a self perpetuating prophecy in which we've created organic sustainability.' That sustainability is also aided by a number of ways Blues Alley has adapted its business model, especially since Schnipper took over shortly before 9/11, which had a huge impact on Washington's economy. The venue has managed to survive even as most of the city's other jazz clubs have closed; it helps that they own their building, something that goes a long way to ensuring longevity of any hospitality business. But Schnipper has also grown Blues Alley's profile through broadcasting performances on Voice of America during the pandemic, which up until recently broadcast jazz performances from a studio in the National Press Building to dozens of countries around the globe. President Donald Trump's administration defunded and attempted to shut down the state-sponsored global media channels earlier this year, though a judge halted the shutdown, giving VOA a reprieve. But the broadcasts to 37 countries that began during the pandemic significantly raised Blues Alley's profile; Blues Alley's website now sees 300,000 visits a month, many of them from overseas, Schnipper said. 'We expanded our brand and our footprint by streaming worldwide,' Schnipper said. 'It was a significant accomplishment that brought us a much bigger, more loyal customer base.' The business has continued to pivot in the past six months as the Trump administration's actions laying off government employees have created economic uncertainty in Washington. While Blues Alley traditionally booked one act from Thursday-Sunday, now it often splits weekends to capitalize on different artists' fan bases. The venue also lowered ticket prices to ensure it is still within its liquor license threshold of earning 51% of its revenue from food and beverage, Schnipper said. The lower ticket pricing has allowed Blues Alley to bring in more new musicians, however. 'Emerging Musician Mondays' are now a standing weekly event that provide a platform for young musicians getting started in the industry — some of whom may have played in the Blues Alley Youth Orchestra, or attended a summer camp. 'It's very gratifying,' said Schnipper. Still, even as it makes space for emerging talent, Blues Alley remains a must-stop for the biggest names in jazz and other touring musicians when they come through D.C. And many of them will be doing so over the next few months to wish the club a happy birthday, including David Benoit, Mike Stern, Monty Alexander's annual Christmas to New Year's residency, and others. (Find tickets on Blues Alley's website.) It's that talent that contributes to Blues Alley's longevity. 'I like to colloquially say it's like backing the right horses. We've been very successful in finding the talent that's going to sustain itself over the course of many decades,' Schnipper said. 'The quality of the talent that we present nightly, the names are the marquee names of the jazz industry.'