A Blue Note Jazz Club is set to open in Rio de Janeiro in August. The Rio location will be the storied club’s first in South America, and the eighth venue to carry the name worldwide. Blue Note Clubs have recently opened in Beijing, Hawaii and Napa, California.
Blue Note Entertainment Group is partnering with Brazilian company L21 Participacoes -- headed by entrepreneur Luiz Calainho -- to create the 350-capacity, 8,500-square-foot club. L21’s other music properties include radio stations and Musickeria, a music and brand marketing venture.
Blue Note Rio will offer two shows nightly Wednesday through Saturday, plus a Sunday jazz brunch. Chef Pedro de Artagão, known for his creative take on Brazilian cuisine, will be in the kitchen of the full-service restaurant. The programming schedule for the club has not yet been announced.
Earlier this week, Subrosa, another Blue Note-owned club with a Latin tinge, closed its doors. The live music venue and cocktail bar in New York City’s meatpacking district offered its last show on June 13. The club, which opened in 2014, quickly attracted an audience for its line-up of Cuban, Latin jazz and Latin alternative artists. According to the club’s web site, Blue Note Entertainment group plans to re-open the Subrosa in a larger venue on an unspecified date.
Blue note’s recent Latin-related ventures also include sponsorship of the 2016 Havana Jazz Festival, and Blue Note Travel, which organizes music travel to Cuba and jazz cruises in the Caribbean.
