[Dixielandjazz] World's Oldest Jazz Club?

[Stephen G Barbone]

Though not trad jazz, the world's oldest continuously operating jazz  
club still going today is probably The Village Vanguard in NYC.

It has been around since February 21, 1935, though Max Gordon started  
it with comedy & poetry as well as jazz and folk music. It was a  
variety show plus dinner club. Jazz acts started there shortly  
thereafter. By the 1950s, the primary focus had become jazz.

For some interesting insight about running a jazz club and to hear a  
variety of the music they present, go to the NPR Jazz Profile at:  
(skip by the music if you don't dig it)
http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/jp/2008/08/20080827_jp_podcast.mp3?dl=1

They first started recording live jazz at the Vanguard in 1957 with a  
Sonny Rollins performance. Some modern jazz talking heads believe that  
3 of the top 10 live recordings in (modern) jazz were made there.

#1 Bill Evans in 1961

#2 John Coltrane in 1961

#6 Sonny Rollins in 1957

The compiler of the list is C. Michael Bailey who had this to say  
about methodology. (see below) He writes for "All About Jazz"  and the  
reviews are on the following website.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/library/livejazz1.htm

"Writer's Note: Having recently completed a survey of the Top Ten Best  
Live Rock Albums, I have learned a couple of valuable things. One is a  
list of this sort should be presented in descending order starting  
with number 10 and descending to number 1. Second, it is better to  
poll a group for their opinions and develop the list from an  
analytical (or pseudoanalytical) evaluation of the results. This is  
how the Top Ten Best Live Jazz Recordings were selected. I polled the  
writership of All About Jazz, combined the results and ranked the  
recordings. For recordings that tied in number of votes, I arbitrarily  
selected the order (I had to exert editorial control somewhere!)."
"Live Jazz is perhaps the most natural creative state in music.  
Performing jazz means a musician must create a work of art on the  
spot, composition in real time. In this series, I hope to highlight  
historic events where this invention has not been merely successful,  
but transcendent."