Wednesday, July 16, 2025
“In this world of overrated pleasures, of underrated treasures, I’m glad there is you.”
So go the lyrics to “I’m Glad There Is You,” recorded in 1941 by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra. Sung by Bob Eberly, the ballad was later covered by, among others: Chet Baker, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Carmen McRae, Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan and — on her 2009 release, “The Lovers, the Dreamers and Me” — Jane Monheit, one of the Great American Songbook’s most gifted advocates.
On July 26 and 27, Monheit will close out an “All Diva Week” at Georgetown supper club Blues Alley. Her sister divas: Clara Campbell, 2025 winner of the Ella Fitzgerald International Jazz Vocal Competition (July 21); Heidi Martin, marking the release of an album of her own jazz compositions (July 22); Alison Crockett, a two-time Wammie (Washington Area Music Association Award) winner (July 23); and legendary Broadway, film and television performer — and R&B songstress — Melba Moore (July 24 and 25).
The “All Diva Week” celebrates the 60th anniversary of Blues Alley, “The House That Dizzy Built,” “the nation’s oldest continuing jazz supper club.” (Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit, which opened in 1934, calls itself the “world’s oldest jazz club,” but its continuity is disputed and its menu basic. No offense.)
“I’ve seen a lot of clubs go,” says Harry Schnipper, owner since 1997, who bought the carriage house Blues Alley occupies for around $1.5 million four years ago.
The storied U Street cellar where Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington performed reopened as Bohemian Caverns in 2000, only to close in 2016. Its neighbor, Twins Jazz, bowed out during the 2020 pandemic shutdown, as did Alice’s Jazz & Cultural Society in Brookland.
The most recent echo of Georgetown’s live-music glory days (M Street “was like Bourbon Street,” recalls Schnipper), Gypsy Sally’s, shuttered early in 2020 after a bit more than six years on Water Street.
Longevity alone is good; longevity plus quality far better. The First Lady of Song and the Chairman of the Board didn’t sing at Blues Alley, but all seven of the others cited above — Baker, Bennett, Hartman, McRae, Tormé, Vaughan and Monheit — did. Toss out the name of a jazz notable active post-1965. Chances are, he or she played the Alley. When Dizzy Gillespie says, “Now this is a jazz club,” the word gets around.
Schnipper, who “first walked through the doors” in his teens, is Blues Alley’s fourth owner, after founder Tommy Gwaltney, a Dixieland clarinetist and vibraphonist who maintained a house band; retired Air Force Col. Bill Cannon; and, in charge for a quarter-century, John Bunyan. Schnipper was originally brought in — “halfway through a 40-year career in commercial real estate” — to develop a nonprofit adjunct, the Blues Alley Jazz Society.
Three of the 30-year-old Blues Alley Jazz Society’s accomplishments: launching a youth orchestra in 1985, a jazz camp in 1999 and the Ella Fitzgerald Competition in 2017, the singer’s centennial. The camp, formerly at Carter Barron Amphitheater, now meets at St. Augustine’s Church in Southwest D.C. (2025 dates: July 28 to Aug. 8).
Overseeing this for-profit/nonprofit pairing, Schnipper finds himself at “the nexus of education and performance programming.” When stars come for gigs, he conducts oral history interviews. Currently, he is in discussions with Rutgers about transferring Blues Alley’s archives to the university’s Institute of Jazz Studies.
Though not a musician, “I have big ears when it comes to music,” says Schnipper. He thinks of himself “as a curator rather than a programmer.” The crowd for Moore is likely to be entirely different from the crowd for Monheit, for instance.
Beyond choosing among types of acts (divas, pianists, other instrumentalists, trios, big bands, etc.), there is a geographical angle. Schnipper: “I’m in the data-mining business.” Thanks to its location near prestige hotels, Blues Alley patrons come from around the U.S. and from dozens of countries.
Working with embassies, Schnipper has showcased performers from several nations and regions, notably Latin America and the Caribbean. He recently traveled to Cuba to explore a partnership with the Havana Jazz Festival (a natural for a club that honors Gillespie’s legacy).
Global awareness of the Blues Alley brand grew during the pandemic restrictions, when, in November of 2020, Schnipper “pivoted to my membership at the National Press Club,” commandeering its studios to stream Monday-night concerts.
Since reopening in September of 2021, despite the setback of a roof fire the following fall, Blues Alley has fully returned to life, presenting two sets nightly. Ticket prices range from $25 on Emerging Artist Mondays to $50 (Melba Moore), with most shows priced at $35, always with $7 fees and a $15 food-and-beverage minimum.
Though increasingly known worldwide, after 60 years the intimate venue behind 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW remains an underrated treasure. Blues Alley, Georgetown is glad there is you.