Founded in 1995 by Dale Fitzgerald and Roy Hargrove, The Jazz Gallery's stellar programming has enabled a reputation as "The most imaginatively booked jazz club in New York." (NY Times) and "The best place to hear live music in New York." (TimeOut NY). As a nonprofit, it has the ability to allow musicians to take creative risks that other jazz venues would be likely to avoid - therefore, The Gallery is a hub of creativity, a home to jazz musicians/composers, many of them from all over the world but now permanently settled in the United States.
The Jazz Gallery serves an ethnically diverse, international audience that represents a cross section of New York City residents and travelers to New York. The Gallery has many loyal audience members from the region, as well as those who come from all over the world and allocate time during their travel to specifically come to hear performances. Audiences represent all ages -children are comfortable attending since no alcohol is served, and many young college students from NYU and the New School frequent the venue regularly alongside adults of every age. One of the best bargains in NYC, the average ticket price is $10-$20 (occasionally, some special events are $35 or $40). The Gallery is open 3 to 5 nights per week, 50 weeks per year and produces an average of 175 events per year. In 2009 its audience was in excess of 11,000.
The Jazz Gallery produces most of its programming in it’s own venue, a loft space with walls that also serve as a gallery for artwork relating to jazz. It seats 70 people. The rented space is on the fifth floor of 1160 Broadway,accessible by elevator. The Jazz Gallery recalls Soho loft spaces of the 1960's and 70s, and conveys an intimacy and warmth that many newcomers comment on.
Thematic series include the Thursday Night Debut Series, a Commissioning Series supported by the Jerome Foundation, large ensemble presentations, and Composer Workshops with Steve Coleman. Funding in 2009 and 2010 included grants from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Jerome Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, the New York Community Trust, Meet the Composer, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and The National Endowment for the Arts, among others. In June 2010, The Jazz Gallery presented six concerts at its venue as part of the New York City CareFusion Jazz Festival. Two of the six concerts were webcast by NPR and WBGO. In addition, as part of the CareFusion Jazz Festival, The Jazz Gallery All -Stars appeared at Symphony Space's Peter Norton Theater, launching an initiative to create opportunities for jazz musicians at other larger performance venues.
Over the past fifteen years The Jazz Gallery presented nine of the last eleven winners of the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition PRIOR to their winning this competition. This year, in 2010, Jason Moran, a formidable pianist who has frequented the stage of The Gallery for more than 10 years, won a MacArthur Award; in 2008, Miguel Zenon, another musician whose emergence began at The Jazz Gallery, was a MacArthur Recipient. (Miguel is in residence at The Gallery this year.) Every jazz musician appearing at The Jazz Gallery, emerging and established, knows that this is a venue where they can experiment, try out new material, and grow and develop as artists. The Jazz Gallery's 2009/2010 season included, among many others, emerging artists such as Andy Milne, Pedro Giraudo, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dafnis Prieto, Darcy James Argue, John Escreet, Yosvany Terry, Ben Williams and Linda Oh, as well as established artists such as Ravi Coltrane, Roy Hargrove, Steve Coleman, Henry Threadgill, Oliver Lake and Fred Hersch.