“Everything’s new,” singer Emily King marveled aloud as she took the stage at Blue Note Jazz Club’s just-opened Los Angeles outpost last night. “The bathrooms are clean. Fresh toilet paper. It’s a girl’s dream.”
The Grammy-nominated R&B singer, who grew up on New York’s Lower East Side, was pointing out what you might call the “new club smell” at L.A.’s most anticipated music venue opening of the year. For her part, she delivered a fan-pleasing pair of sets that, like the room itself, balanced glamour with accessibility. King’s ebullient guitar strumming and tight airy harmonies with her acoustic band lifted songs like “Remind Me” and “Georgia” into sing-along favorites that played perfectly to an audience intimate enough to see the fretwork even from the back booths.
Blue Note brings its Greenwich Village Legacy to Hollywood
Blue Note Los Angeles, on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, opened on August 14 and is modeled closely on Blue Note’s iconic Greenwich Village flagship but stretched about ten feet wider with higher ceilings, topping out at roughly 200 seats. That small footprint is intentional: guests sit elbow-to-elbow at tightly packed tables, waitstaff squeeze down narrow aisles and the dinner menu comes with cocktails riffing on jazz-era classics. You feel like you’re in a happening club.
Later this fall, the second “B-Side” room opens with space for about 100 people, designed for later-night jam sessions, podcasts and under-the-radar sets. Together, the twin rooms aim to create a 21st-century update on the original Blue Note ethos—big-name acts in small spaces, paired with a pipeline for younger musicians to grow into the Blue Note ecosystem.
How Blue Note Compares to Catalina, Sam First, Vibrato, and The Baked Potato
The space fills a real gap in Los Angeles. It’s smaller than Catalina Jazz Club up the street and friendlier, too, with its first-come, first-served seating instead of reserved tables and steep minimums. Sam First near LAX is a 50-seat listening room that’s lovely but less likely to book marquee names. Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill, with decades of Bel-Air regulars, is a true supper club, which translates as clubby and exclusive and skewing older. The Baked Potato and The World Stage are beloved music dens built for serious local players and loyal listeners. And so, Blue Note arrives with a role to play as well as brand mystique (Dizzy, Sarah Vaughan, Oscar Peterson, those live albums). It’s got the pull to land A-list acts, which instantly positions the place as the city’s new crossroads for jazz and kindred sounds.
The acoustics are spectacular. Even from the bar, you could pick out the stacked harmonies, the shaker swishes, even King’s little guitar squeaks between chords. Her pin-drop verses drew the crowd forward (one table up front must might as well have been the Official Emily King Fan Club; these people were ecstatic), and by the end, ringing choruses filled the room without ever getting harsh.
Upcoming Shows at Blue Note Los Angeles
On deck: Ravi Coltrane plays August 28–31; Esperanza Spalding takes over September 2–7; followed by Kenny Garrett September 11–14, Kamasi Washington is in the house September 30–October 12, Charlie Puth October 16–19, Killer Mike September 19–21, and many more across genres through spring.
For a new venue, last night’s show was a noble test: the sound carried cleanly, King said it was one of her favorite shows ever and the audience was rapt. It may not be a great time for the arts in America but with Blue Note in town, at least we have an excellent place to enjoy them.