The Jazz Corner

More than 100 years old and continually evolving, jazz is often misunderstood.

 

Swing, hard bob, bebop, Dixieland, smooth, progressive, acid . . . the list goes on. Perhaps one reason for the confusion is that jazz is felt. It comes from the heart. As jazz musician Barney Kessel once said, “The beat is irresistible. The melodies are beautiful. The harmonies are intricate and intriguing, and the improvisations are phenomenal feats of spontaneous composition.”

 

Created in New Orleans, jazz has roots in African rhythms, American folk songs, field chants, New Orleans parades and funeral bands. Its European influences were introduced through melody, harmony and musical instruments and while jazz was born in the South, there are few venues today that dare to claim to be synonymous with true jazz. The Jazz Corner claims such a feat and our purpose has been and still is, to celebrate and preserve America’s most distinctive sound.

 

Proof is in the accolades listed below, of some of the greatest jazz musicians in the world today that have graced our stage at The Jazz Corner.

 

“One of the finest jazz clubs on the East Coast, if not the country.

We’ll be back!” George Shearing

 

“The best room for jazz that I’ve every played in.” Buddy Greco

 

“The Jazz Corner is without question the best small

jazz club we’ve performed.” Bucky Pizzarelli

 

“Obviously a tremendous amount of thought went into the selection of the

piano. I wish there was something like this in New York.” John Bunch

 

Welcome to The Jazz Corner, the South East’s premier jazz club and restaurant offering smooth and elegant jazz with gourmet dining in an intimate and relaxed environment nightly.

 

We opened on March 30th, 1999 with The George Shearing Quintet and have continued to offer a unique experience to those who cherish great jazz mixed with fine dining and outstanding service in an elegant environment.

 

Read on to discover more about The Jazz Corner and its variety of offerings . . .

 

 

THE HISTORY OF THE JAZZ CORNER

 

It is both important and necessary to write the history and background of The Jazz Corner. Who were the pioneers who conceived the club? What were the driving forces behind the design and musical process?  How did it come together? All of these factors along with some other experiential elements are part of our rich history.

 

Charles Swift, one of the co-founders, although not a jazz musician, has always possessed three qualities necessary for a project of this nature: passion for classical and jazz music; corporate citizenship; and an extensive background in business and organizational development. While attending then graduating from Princeton, Charles gained additional insight into the history of great music with his association to Princeton and Jimmy Stewart, Brooks Bowman, and “East of the Sun”.

 

Bob Masteller, his partner, possesses a unique background of both musicianship and business. Bob was born a jazz legacy, as his father Harold was a prominent jazz musician in the early pre-swing twentieth century. Bob inherited an in-built knowledge of the history of jazz as imparted to him by his father through both teaching and playing. It was during the period of 1944-1959 that Bob observed, learned, and played the music of the times with his dad’s band. His father insisted on two things: that he learns to “swing” his instrument and that he plays in “stock” keys. This process began in Waverly, New York when Bob was five years old. He began to be aware that he was in a rich musical environment where swing music was played every day, either by one of his family members or on the 78 phonograph. Among the collection was the music of Nat Cole, Art Tatum, Phil Napoleon, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Nellie Lutcher, Teddy Wilson, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mercer, and George Shearing, just to name a few.

 

The quintessential points of jazz venues in general that were observed during Bob’s teen years had to do with room design, acoustics, and environment. He learned from first hand experience the effect a badly designed room could have on a performance. The most extraordinary finding was that very often the room offered nothing in the way of design or sound amplification.

 

Another mind-boggling discovery was that rooms featuring jazz very often had pianos out of tune or pianos that were unfit for executing good jazz. This learning curve continued all through college where he was part of a prominent campus band at Hobart but also followed him through an entire business career as a daytime Human Resource executive and a nighttime jazz musician. It was this dichotomy which ultimately led to the birth of The Jazz Corner.

 

The first mission was to design an acoustically perfect room with tuned house instruments in a rich, comfortable environment. Once this was completed, the next element was to hire their operations person during this design phase. They chose Leslie Rohland as General Manager to assist in the development and implementation of a food and beverage concept that created an “experience” rather than just a “meal with music”. It was only through the strong influence of Leslie and eventually the Chef that the food and beverage experience was actually implemented at an equal level with the musical program and design. Finally, the plan to build the sound perfect room was set. It would feature the three things that still exist today: elegant and entertaining jazz; perfect sound; (which they defined as a person hearing the same note at the same volume regardless of location) and a “mystical” atmosphere that would remind a customer that he or she are in a unique setting. KRA and Associates were commissioned to fulfill these requirements. They did so by integrating a small oval uplifted stage, with tables on the floor and slightly raised banquets, along with a small horseshoe brass bar. The etched glass front door leads to a foyer that instantly gives one with the impression that they are in a swing era New York jazz club and one feels a connection to history linked by both architecture and interior design. Combined with magnificent art work, KRA helped create our jewel.

 

Masteller and Swift were both corporately trained and even though the project required high entrepreneurial energy, the driving force behind the project was thoughtful planning based on real life experience within the art form of Jazz. It is this combination, along with their courage to let the operating people run the project while they concentrated on the policy development of the corporation that makes The Jazz Corner a success on several levels.

 

The other and sometimes “hidden” piece of history is that Masteller saw The Jazz Corner as an opportunity to transfer his avant-garde Human Resource beliefs. His experience as VP of Human Resources for Sea Pines in the 1970’s taught him that food and beverage establishments carried low marks in the area of individual treatment, training, retention, and recognition compared to his other organizational endeavors. He and Charlie Swift felt that a strong sense of “family” and teamwork would add to the so-called “value added” concept of The Jazz Corner. The intent, which has largely been met, is to impart a strong sense of history and culture to the patron and not just a “present tense”. The uniqueness is that, in this concept, the message is essentially delivered by the staff while operating within the work of art.

 

Although The Jazz Corner is still a work in progress, it is safe to say, after eight years, that many of the ideas that became the focal points of the club were gained from a strong sense of history. As the line of philosophy goes, "those who do not learn from the lessons of history are condemned to repeat." The Jazz Corner is a project based on this in a variety of subjects.

 

On a musical note, The Jazz Corner has prided itself, since March 30, 1999 in selecting proper jazz and music. The overriding principle was that of elegance and quality in both the type of music presented and the lead performer. Careful analysis of jazz uncovers the little known fact that there are some twenty three different categories of jazz, ranging from traditional to acid jazz. We decided we were interested in four of the twenty three, which are swing, traditional, New Orleans and mainstream jazz. It is interesting to note that each of these categories have common subdivisions which are bright and airy, mood themes, mid-tempo themes, and ballads. In addition, within each category, tunes selection is such that vocals can be attached as an addition to each grouping.

 

During the initial two year start-up period, the club employed different combinations of instruments in each of the four categories which served as an excellent proving ground for determining winning combinations that pleased our patrons and supporters.

 

Today, The Jazz Corner’s schedule of performers includes differing combinations of instrumentation and vocalization but the four categories remain intact. Our weekday programming at the club is slightly different than the weekend approach in that two categories have been added to give more variety. Rhythm and blues and contemporary blues have been added to the four categories, which provides for a wider degree of interest in the venues.

 

The Jazz Corner takes great pride in looking back on our years and knowing that we stayed the course. If there is one word that could amply describe our mission in both food and music it would be the word “consistency”.