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Of the new venues, this is the
only supper club. They have a full
menu, with a large selection of appetizers
and salads, seafood and
steaks, and classic comfort food. The
customer favorites so far “This has
surprised me, but the chicken fried
chicken has been the steadiest seller,”
says Pollock. “And the eggplant
Parmesan is a favorite of our vegetarian
customers. The Mississippi
Mud Cake has its fans, too.” We’ve
had the wings, a shrimp appetizer,
the fish and chips, and hand-carved
smoked turkey, too. There is a nice
range of pricing, too.
But, back to the music. The
Broadway has music Tuesday
through Saturday; the club is closed
Sunday and Monday. Hanrahan’s
original vision of the musical
agenda has held true: they’ll generally
feature trios on Tuesday and
Wednesday, with a taping of 12th
Street Jump! occurring every other
Wednesday, followed by the Joe
Cartwright Trio. The Tuesday has
become a personal favorite; one week we saw Mark
Lowrey’s trio with Bob Bowman and Arny Young, and
the Gerald Spaits Trio with Charles Perkins and Rod
Fleeman were there for another. I’ve enjoyed arriving a
bit early, before the seven o’clock first set, to just enjoy the
bar and recorded music and no television. They open at
four, and are planning some reduced price drink specials
for the happy hour soon. As I told Neil, I’ve been looking
for a quiet bar with jazz on my New York trips for years.
The Thursday live music starts at five with pianist
Charles D. Williams. At eight they go Brazilian, with
Arara Azul alternating weeks with the Sons of Brasil.
The weekends also have two bands each evening, and
you’ll see a lot of vocalists on the calendar. The Saturday
early set should be especially popular, with Ida McBeth
returning to the stage and alternating weeks with Angela
Hagenbach. It’s great that two of KC’s best will have a
regular room again. These shows start at six and end at
Neil Pollock, Armida Orozco, and Pat
Hanrahan, of the Broadway Jazz Club
nine. The Friday “matinee” has been featuring the Dave
Creighton Organization from five thirty until eight
thirty. The evening sets start at nine Friday and nine
thirty Saturday, and vocalists are again featured, often
with a horn supplementing the trio. This past weekend I
caught Megan Birdsall, with Steve Lambert joining the
trio with Ben and Matt Leifert and Andrew Ouellette.
I’ve seen Eboni Fondren, Molly Hammer, Dionne Jeroue,
and Shay Estes on the schedule as well. The intimacy and
sound make this a great room for vocalists.
Hanrahan is still learning the history of this location,
which was a sports bar before the Broadway made
it a jazz room. “Marilyn Maye sang here in the 1960s,”
Pat said, “and Tony Bennett was would come over and
listen to her when he was in town. At some point maybe
she can be here again!”
Parking can be difficult in the neighborhood, but
that should not be a problem at the Broadway, as the
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JAZZ AMBASSADOR MAGAZINE • APRIL + MAY 2014 13