26 April 18th-April 24th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Tune Back In Glendale venue Westside Blues, Jazz and More reopens with new lease on life. BY BENJAMIN LEATHERMAN I f you’ve been wondering when Glendale’s Westside Blues, Jazz and More would make its long-awaited return, there’s finally an answer. The speakeasy-style nightclub and music venue, located at 17045 N. 59th Ave. in Glendale, had been closed since early January after its original owners, Paul Vincent Perez and Cindi Jackson, decided to step away from the business due to health issues and other reasons. More than four months later, Westside Blues, Jazz and More has reopened and resumed hosting shows after being sold to new owners and getting a new lease on life. When is Westside Blues, Jazz and More reopening? Westside Blues, Jazz and More reopened earlier this month. A grand reopening celebration took place on April 13, featuring local jazz, R&B and soul vocalist Sandra Bassett alongside backing band September Soul. On April 14, renowned blues guitarist and jazz scene veteran Johnny DeFrancesco performed. New owner Channing Pickett, who acquired the venue from Perez and Jackson, says she plans to pick things up where her predecessors left off. “(Paul and Cindi) did an amazing job creating this place and I want to continue helping keep live music alive in the Valley,” Pickett says. ‘An opportunity I definitely wanted to take’ Pickett, who has been general manager of the venue since 2022, says when Perez and Jackson announced late last year they were closing Westside, Blues, Jazz and More, she leapt at the chance to buy the venue. “I’ve been the GM for more than a year and it was an opportunity I definitely wanted to take,” she says. “As long as I’m building off what we started there was no reason for it to go away.” Pickett admits that owning a venue is vastly different from managing it, though. “It’s definitely a little more stressful because it’s my money that’s on the line. I’m trying to not think about that part and just focus on what needs to be done with running this business now,” she says. “Because I’ve run it for the past year and know what it takes to break even, I think I’ve got leg up in keeping it going successfully.” She’s also getting some assistance from Perez, who is sticking around to help until he moves to Portugal later this year. “Paul has been incredibly helpful,” Pickett says. “He’s very much in support of us carrying things forward.” Keeping things ‘basically the same’ Pickett says not much changed at Westside Blues, Jazz and More during its four-month closure. The 3,500-square- foot nightclub and venue, which was opened by Perez and Jackson in 2021 as a “Chicago-style speakeasy type of place,” still features a stage backed by a red brick wall, Chesterfield-style seating and other classy amenities. Pickett says the venue is “basically the same” inside. “It was just some cleaning up and moving stuff around to possibly fit more people in here,” she says. The only major change was to add some additional barriers to the outdoor patio at Westside Blues, Jazz and More to allow for outdoor alcohol consumption, Pickett says. “Now you can sit outside and listen to music and drink, which is something we weren’t able to offer before,” she says. Pickett says that over the next few weekends, Westside Blues, Jazz and More will start ramping up its live music schedule, aiming to eventually have gigs every Thursday through Sunday nights, with plans for further expansion. “We’re aiming to include Wednesdays as well,” she explains. “Then, the objective is to secure the budget within the next month or so to introduce a jazz matinee on Saturdays.” The venue’s musical focus will remain largely the same. Pickett says they’ll continue to showcase blues, jazz, R&B, funk and soul artists on the regular. That includes many of the same Arizona musi- cians and bands who have regularly performed at the venue, such as all-female jazz trio We3, iconic bluesman Big Pete Pearson and New Orleans-style groove and soul act NOLAZ. “One of the really cool things I’ve discovered is anyone who’s played here loves coming back again and again,” Pickett says. “And we definitely love having them here.” More than just blues, jazz and R&B That said, Pickett plans to broaden the venue’s musical offerings to encompass other genres and types of live entertainment. “We’re definitely going to try expanding into different things to compli- ment the blues and jazz,” she says. “We had started bringing in comedy in the months before we closed and I’ll continue doing that.” To that end, Pickett says they’ve hired local musician and guitarist Steve Heavenstone, who has performed and promoted at several venues throughout metro Phoenix, as a booker. “What’s kind of cool about that is he played and booked for a lot of places around town. He plays the guitar for NOLAZ, which we’ve (featured) many times here,” Pickett says. “He’s very tied into the local scene, so we’ll be able to get some other talent in as well that will be new to us.” Fans of blues, jazz and R&B needn’t worry about being eclipsed by other genres at the venue, though. “Those sounds will always have a home here,” Pickett says. Left: The entrance to Westside Blues, Jazz & More in Glendale. Bottom: An undated performance at the venue. (Photo by Westside Blues, Jazz and More and Benjamin Leatherman) ▼ Music
