Step inside this Mattress-Stuy brownstone and also you’ll swear you’ve been whisked again to a jazz venue in Forties Brooklyn.
Housed in a Nineteenth-century house with floral drapes, moody lamps and reside music, this intimate Victorian parlor revives the borough’s storied musical roots — no time machine required.
Welcome to BrownstoneJAZZ, the romantic, toe-tapping sizzling spot that’s placing Brooklyn again on the jazz map — and selecting up a brand new era of followers on Instagram and TikTok within the course of.
The venue at 107 Macon St. — based by newly topped “jazz hero” Debbie McClain and co-owner and music director Eric Lemons — is a component speakeasy, half stage, half black historical past museum.
And each weekend, it transforms right into a swinging tribute to the borough’s deep jazz legacy.
“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 advised The Submit.
Contained in the efficiency room, a trio of glowing lamps — one purple, one orange, one inexperienced — bathe the “ballroom,” as McClain calls it, in a mesmerizing, ethereal glow.
Ornate white floral molding traces the partitions, flanked by classic mirrors, tasseled paisley sconces, angel-footed lamps and a framed black-and-white shot of Billie Vacation mid-performance in 1947.
With an upright grand piano, double bass, drum set and vinyl data from Scott Joplin to John Coltrane on show, the entire area seems like a jazz lover’s dream frozen in time — simply how McClain deliberate 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 advised The Submit.
On a current steamy Saturday night time, Farmer took the mike alongside a lineup of native legends, which rotate each week — Endurance Higgins on sax, Bruce Cox on drums, Yovanne Pierre on piano and Lemons on bass — for a soul-stirring set that had the viewers swaying, snapping and erupting into applause after each tune.
Farmer dazzled with a riveting tackle George Gershwin’s “Summertime,” whereas singer and violinist Mimi Block later scatted and bowed her approach by means of the blues basic “I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water” whereas backed by the band.
“Our performances are a combination of planned songs and improv,” Higgins, who performed with Aretha Franklin and Stevie Surprise, advised The Submit. “Sometimes we even take audience requests.”
That spontaneity, paired with the parlor’s plush atmosphere, creates a spellbinding impact — one which has been happening for 16 years.
Step into the parlor
Born in Harlem and raised in Brooklyn, McClain grew up tickling the ivories and belting out ballads — performing on the Brooklyn Academy of Music and singing with the All-Metropolis Faculties Choir.
BrownstoneJAZZ got here to life in 2010 after McClain turned the household house right into a mattress and breakfast referred to as Sankofa Aban.
So it was no shock when, a yr after opening the B&B, she reworked the yard of the house right into a jazz haven, referred to as Jazz Beneath the Stars, to honor her and her household’s love of the style.
“Music has always been so important to our family, and so has this brownstone,” stated McClain’s brother, Arnold McDonald, who helps examine tickets and greet visitors at every present.
McClain met her pal and co-owner, Lemons, when she employed him to play bass for these early yard units. “He actually convinced me to bring the music into the parlor, and 16 years later, here we are,” she advised The Submit.
Now referred to as the BrownstoneJAZZ Weekend Live performance Collection, McClain and Lemons normally promote out 4 reveals a weekend: Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., and Sunday “after-brunch” units at 4 and 6 p.m. — with tickets priced at $55.30.
It’s “dress-to-impress” however removed from stuffy. The venue doesn’t serve alcohol or meals, so visitors BYOBB — that’s “bring your own brown bag” — and sip discreetly whereas the band performs.
What started as a modest open mic has grown right into a tightly curated live performance room — with McClain and Lemons now reserving style heavy-hitters on the common, like Higgins, saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding, nine-time Grammy-nominated percussionist Bobby Sanabria, vocalist Carla Prepare dinner, and the late trombonist Kiane Zawadi.
After a pandemic pause, BrownstoneJAZZ skilled a serious resurgence in 2023, due to viral buzz and a rising 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 advised The Submit.
And as soon as they’re inside, he makes certain they go away with greater than only a nice set.
‘Real jazz’ in Mattress-Stuy
Every night time, Lemons delivers a monologue filled with jazz historical past and Mattress-Stuy pleasure.
He tells audiences how bebop was born proper right here, how Lena Horne lived on this avenue and the way the borough rivaled Manhattan’s jazz scene with 27 golf equipment within the ’60s.
Again then, Mattress-Stuy boasted greater than 20 bustling jazz joints, Lemons advised The Submit.
Mattress-Stuy’s jazz roots run deep. The neighborhood as soon as rivaled Harlem with its booming mid-century scene. Legendary jazz drummer Max Roach was raised in Mattress-Stuy and helped pioneer the bebop model 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.”
At present, BrownstoneJAZZ is carrying that torch, being the one Mattress-Stuy venue that performs basic Forties and Nineteen Fifties-style American jazz.
For Lemons, jazz is greater than music — it’s an American artwork kind, a cultural lifeline, and a narrative too few have heard.
“It’s important,” he advised The Submit, “because most people never learn about black excellence and contributions to music in school.”
BrownstoneJAZZ, he stated, helps repair that.
“There are very few jazz venues that are still black-owned in New York City like ours is,” Lemons stated. “That tells us we have a lot of work to do in preserving history.”
‘Being shared among generations’
The work is paying off. Lemons stated that 95% of their viewers is made up of “out-of-towners” — from Ohio to Poland to Switzerland — and lots of uncover the venue by means of social media.
“I heard about BrownstoneJAZZ thanks to my algorithm on Facebook, and my daughter bought me a ticket for my birthday,” H. Bosh Jr., an viewers member, advised The Submit. “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 stated as concertgoers trickled in for the 9:30 p.m. Saturday present.
McClain and Lemons are happy with the present they placed on — particularly once they witness viewers members absorbing the vitality “we’ve been feeling for years,” Lemons advised The Submit.
“When they actually listen, put their phones down and focus on our music, it’s so special,” he stated.
McClain added, “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.”
