Will club revitalize jazz scene?

Friday, Aug. 18, 2000 | 8:37 a.m.

Las Vegas' first major jazz club to arrive in almost 40 years is stirring up excitement among local jazz fans.

But their excitement over the opening this week of the Blue Note Las Vegas is tempered by the knowledge that jazz has always been a hard sell in the world's entertainment capital. They wonder if times have changed.

"This is not a jazz town," said Dan Skea, former president of the Las Vegas Jazz Society.

Skea said the only true jazz club in Las Vegas was the Blue Room at the Tropicana hotel-casino, a popular site in the early 1960s where such big-name artists as the late Joe Williams entertained.

He hopes there are now enough jazz fans living in the valley, and enough tourists, to support a club devoted to their favorite kind of music.

Skea said the House of Blues, in the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino, attracts some jazz fans, but it is not what he would call a jazz club.

"It has a parallel audience, and some of them are the same," Skea said. "Though (the House of Blues and the Blue Note) are closely related, they are not really the same."

The Blue Note, a 450-seat club, is part of the Desert Passage mall adjacent to the Aladdin hotel-casino. It is the fifth franchise for the club. The first facility is in New York City, where it opened in 1981. Three other clubs are in Japan, and another is expected to open in Korea in the near future.

All of the clubs include a main room, bar, restaurant and gift shop. The walls are covered with jazz memorabilia. Large video screens show taped and live performances from Blue Note clubs around the world.

Over the years the clubs have featured some of the biggest names in jazz, such as the late Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie and Buddy Rich.

Jazz legends Lou Rawls and Nancy Wilson perform at the Las Vegas club through Saturday.

Among musicians booked for engagements through the end of the year are the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Cassandra Wilson, Peabo Bryson, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Greg Allman, Roberta Flack and Chuck Mangione.

In addition to jazz, the club will feature blues, Latin, soul, big band and popular music.

Skea said there have been several attempts through the years to jump-start major jazz clubs here, but they have all failed.

He believes with the area's population now at more than 1.3 million, there may be enough fans to make something happen.

Owner Steve Bensusan is betting that it will.

"Through our research we felt it would be a good market for us," he said. "Las Vegas is a destination spot for Japanese tourists, who are a major part of our business."

The first Blue Note in Japan opened in 1989. "We have concentrated on the Japanese market over the last 10 or so years and now we're ready for domestic expansion," he said.

Bensusan said the next club in the United States will open in San Francisco in two years.

The Blue Note, he said, will succeed because of "the name and the reputation that goes along with it -- plus food. The experience is not like going to a jazz concert, but more of a night out where you can eat and drink and listen to music in an upscale setting."