Jazz remains the beating heart at Jax Bar & Grill

You think of jazz clubs, and Glendale isn’t the first place to come to mind. Jazz is something you’d find in Hollywood or downtown or along Central Avenue or out along Ventura Boulevard. Not in sleepy Glendale. But Jax, right in the middle of Glendale, has been booking jazz acts for more than 30 years. In fact, Jax Bar & Grill is the longest running jazz establishment in Los Angeles. Jax is an institution.

Some big names have played there. Jack Sheldon had a Thursday night residency at Jax for years, playing as many sets at Jax as he played at any other room. He’d play his beautiful bebop trumpet and sing and crack wise and the house was always packed. Med Flory, of the legendary Super Sax, returned to performing at Jax after a hiatus of a few years. Something about the room brought him back to life on that little stage, and he’d run through Charlie Parker tunes and tell outrageous stories to the mix of jazz fans and musicians filling the place. If the bar got too noisy he’d start picking on the patrons.

The bar did get noisy, too. Still does. On some nights you step inside the joint, and the bar is packed, and you have to squeeze past the patrons to get to Enrique the maitre d’. He’ll point you to one of the booths along the wall or back into the dining room. But if you’re there for the music you try and get one of the half-dozen tiny tables in front of the stage. It’s hard to think of another place in all Southern California where musicians and listeners are packed so tightly together. You’re virtually on the tiny stage with them. Eye contact is inevitable. The musicians talk to you. They can’t help it. You’re 2 feet away. And when a band is on fire, a saxophonist playing like his life depended on it or a blues guitarist digging deep, those tables provide some remarkable listening. Exhilarating even.

There was the time that Jack Sheldon made eye contact with a lady during a solo, and he played his trumpet so beautifully she swooned, almost toppling out of her chair. There was the time that Med Flory walked across a couple empty chairs blowing “Now’s the Time” like he was a kid again. There was the time Benn Clatworthy played John Coltrane’s “Naima” so beautifully that the entire room hushed, even the well-oiled clientele at the bar, listening. There were Elliott Caine sets that got people up and dancing like it was Central Avenue. The legendary Frank Strazzieri, playing his very last gigs on that piano. And Jennifer York, the beautiful traffic reporter, playing bass for a star struck audience and autographing menus between sets.

It’s not all jazz, though. You can catch some excellent blues in there. Indeed, some of the down and dirtiest blues has stomped that stage. One old cat pointed out that when he was a kid you didn’t get caught after dark in Glendale, then launched into an “I’m A Man” like he owned the joint. The room exploded with hollers that startled some of the other patrons.

You can see a lot of standards singers in there, too. Some Rat Pack acts. A little zydeco and Afro-Cuban and even rockabilly. This past Saturday it was Ralph Mathis, looking much like his brother Johnny, but playing R&B and soul, some rock, some Herbie Mann and an excellent take on “Rio de Janeiro Blue.” He led a five-piece — sax, piano, drums and his beautiful wife Irene on bass — and owned the room. Between sets they came down and sat at tables with the fans and just chatted away. The invisible wall between performers and audience disappears at Jax. Hollywood this is not.

It is an eatery, too, not just a nightclub. And while there’s a trend toward exotic and California cuisine at live music venues in L.A., the Jax chef never got the memo. The place is still an old-fashioned chop house, the way all jazz rooms used to be. You don’t eat light at Jax. Prices are moderate and the drinks are good. The service is friendly and no one rushes you. If you feel like sitting at one of those little tables through three or four sets no one will chase you out of there. And there’s no danger of celebrities or VIPs demanding your table. Not in Glendale.

Jazz fans do have a running complaint, though. They wish there was more jazz. At least a night or two a week of the real stuff. They miss Jack Sheldon or the Friday nights full of bebop. Times change, audiences change, and there are few places in L.A. that book jazz every night of the week anymore. But Jax always was a jazz room, and longtime fans hope that Jax gets back to booking a little more of the straight ahead.

Because local jazz fans love this old room, with its Americana décor and wood panel and tiny 19th-century restrooms. They love the little tables in front of the stage. They may not be crazy about some of the noisier patrons at the bar, but that just makes it more real. This is what a jazz environment used to be like. Jax in Glendale is old school.

What: Jax Bar & Grill

Where: 339 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

More info and calendar: (818) 500-1604; jaxbarandgrill.com
--

BRICK WAHL is a Los Angeles music writer and previous contributor to Marquee.