By Sumaq Killari
You might not know but Long Island, a place famous for its quiet suburban life, has also been home to a vibrant jazz scenario for decades.
The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook continues to inspire locals, college students, and musicians, who gather on Wednesday nights to improvise to the sounds of the saxophone and double bass.
In the dimly lit room on the first floor, a sign with the name Tony Bennett is engraved on the threshold. But it’s the second floor that truly transports visitors to another era. A stepped stage sits in front of small tables flickering with candlelight, creating an intimate, almost dreamlike atmosphere. The warmly lit room, with its deep blue walls, exudes vintage charm. Modernist paintings of jazz legends line the walls. A wooden stage backdrop, adorned with draped fabric, frames the musicians as they bring the room to life.
“Long Island has always had a really strong jazz community because of our proximity to New York City,” said Thomas Manuel, president and founder of the Jazz Loft.
Artists like Mose Allison and John Coltrane moved to Long Island in the mid-1960’s seeking the contrast to city life. “Mose Allison, he lived in Smithtown and he was asked once, ‘Why Smithtown?’ and he said, ‘Well, that’s where the LIE (Long Island Expressway) ended. It ended at exit 58… so that was basically as far as you could go on the highway before it became a single lane,… rural roads.” Manuel said. Allison would live on Long Island for over 40 years before moving to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
In 2006, Allison was inducted into the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame located at 97 Main St, Stony Brook. In 2018, two years after his death, The Long Island Museum in partnership with WUSB-FM, and the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council conducted a tribute concert in his honor. Mose Allison would play shows at the Staller Center at Stony Brook University or jazz clubs in Port Jefferson when not on tour.
The Coltrane Home
John Coltrane, one of the most influential African American saxophonists in history, moved to Dix Hills, Long Island, in the 1960s. It was in his home there that he composed the groundbreaking spiritual masterpiece A Love Supreme, alongside drummer Elvin Jones. The Dix Hills house also became a creative sanctuary for Alice Coltrane, who recorded A Monastic Trio and Huntington Ashram Monastery for the prestigious Impulse! label. Their son, Ravi Coltrane, born on Long Island, would go on to become a Grammy-nominated saxophonist and composer.
The Coltrane Home, a two-story, brick and wood frame home in Huntington is a landmark dedicated to preserving the family’s jazz history. Now, registered as a local, state, and national historic place, the home is a designated National Treasure by the National Historic Trust for Preservation. According to their website, The home offers locals and visitors an immersive exploration into the history of jazz and educational programs for all ages, including internships and music classes.
The Draw to New York City and Long Island
At first, it was common for artists to move to the five boroughs. “Believe it or not, all they had to do was move to Queens… or move to Corona where Louis Armstrong lived, and Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald… Ella lived in Elmhurst,” Manuel said. “And then it was Nassau County. These wonderful artists like Arthur Prysock and Jimmy Maxwell, Shelvy Jackson, so many of these people that lived in Nassau, and then it was Suffolk County, and then there is the East End… they just went as far away as they could. It’s interesting, most of them show their houses and the proximity where they lived near either a highway or a train station so they could easily get in and out of town. They wanted the quiet, but they also were pretty strategic in choosing where to live because all of the work was in town. So, they wanted the quiet but they also were pretty strategic in choosing where to live because all the work was in town if you were playing in clubs.”
Mikey Lipschultz, a junior at Stony Brook University and member of the WUSB Stony Brook Radio, said that he attends the jazz loft jam sessions religiously. “The first time I heard of the Jazz Loft was when I was touring Stony Brook University for the accepted student day. That day, there was a jazz trio of vibraphone, bass, and drums performing in the Humanities building. I talked to them between songs, and they told me about the Jazz Loft,” Lipschultz said.
“The Jazz loft has introduced jazz to a whole new generation of people too, and it’s been really exciting to see when something appears and can stay stable and consistent and offers really high-quality programming,” Manuel said. “All starts to build and grow a new generation; a new audience is brought.”
WUSB Stony Brook Radio also plays a role in keeping jazz alive on Long Island, ensuring the genre continues to reach new audiences. They have scheduled jazz shows every single Sunday.
“The community has been incredibly supportive,” Manuel said. “We have had such a strong arts center and focus community based very much so a foundation that is in place and culture that has been alive for a long time.”
Long Island actively preserves its rich jazz culture through organizations like The Music Academia Foundation, The East End Jazz, and Nassau-Suffolk Performing Arts, which offer educational programs for all ages. In addition, the Island is host to a variety of festivals where musicians can showcase their talent. Events like The Sag Harbor American Music Festival, The Tilles Jazz Fest, and the Hampton Jazz Festival, provide platforms for both renowned and emerging local artists.
However many Jazz dedicated clubs have closed during the last decade. “You just have to look around. There are no other jazz hubs in Long Island anymore. There used to be. The club to go to was called Sonny’s, a place for all great jazz musicians,” Manuel recalls.
Many artists from the suburbs found their way into New York City’s jazz scene through connections made in Long Island’s local spots.
Sonny’s place in Seaford was a popular jazz club during the late 1970’s, featuring performances by notable musicians such as Peter Ecklund, Dan Barett, Joe Muranyi, Marty Grosz, and others. Sonny’s was known for supporting local artists, helping them return to their careers, and connecting them to people in the city. Vocalist Angela De Niro recalled that owner Sonny Meyerowitz was one of the first to give her a chance to perform at a club regularly. However, in 1997, the club closed due to economic challenges and the rise of home entertainment and shrinking of the market.
In 2014, Port Jazz, a nightclub located at 201 Main St, shut down, in part due to shifts in music culture, specifically, the rise of new genres and changing tastes. Years later, The COVID19 pandemic further impacted the jazz scene on Long Island, contributing to the closure of several venues. Treme, a jazz and blues club in Islip Long Island, also made the decision to close its doors even before COVID restrictions in Long Island started.
Despite these closures, the jazz scene on Long Island is finding new life. Organizations like The Jazz Loft are actively working to bring the genre back into the spotlight, not only by preserving its legacy but by expanding its reach beyond traditional venues.
Through initiatives like the Jazz Dispatch series, The Jazz Loft brings live performances to unexpected places: restaurants, art centers, senior centers, even state parks like Cold Spring Harbor’s Compset Park. Monthly residencies, collaborative concert series with local institutions like the Doctor Creek Art Center and the Paul Grassneer House, and spring festivals hosted at the Stony Brook Southampton campus are all part of this effort.
Sumaq Killari is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism Working Newsroom program for students and local media.
Photo: Muncharelli, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
