When New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club opens its new Hawaii outpost Monday at the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, music fans will have more opportunities to enjoy world-class entertainment here than ever before, according to one of the club’s owners.
“Over time you’re going to see great programming here that you haven’t been able to find in Hawaii until now,” said Steve Bensusan, president of Blue Note Entertainment Group. “I’m finding a lot of musicians want to play in Hawaii. A lot of jazz musicians haven’t been out here in a while.”
Bensusan’s father, Danny Bensusan, opened the original Blue Note in 1981 after immigrating to the United States from Israel. Blue Note Entertainment currently operates two jazz clubs in Japan and another in Italy along with New York and Hawaii locations. The family-owned company also owns and operates New York’s B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, the Highline Ballroom, Subrosa and Lucille’s Grill, as well as the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C.
“He wasn’t necessarily a jazz fan,” Bensusan said of his father, who remains involved in the club’s operations and will be in Honolulu this week. “It was a business venture on his part. He became a jazz fan because he was hanging out with all these jazz legends.”
Bensusan, 42, grew up with the club, even taking trumpet lessons from legendary Canadian trumpeter Maynard Ferguson. He put his instrument down after college, however, and got involved in running the business. For more than 20 years he’s been responsible for diversifying the club’s musical offerings and showing how a jazz-focused venue can incorporate other genres of music and remain popular with its core group of customers.
“In the mid-’90s when I started booking the talent, it really gave us some flexibility in terms of booking other types of music,” he said. “We were able to be a bit more creative than just presenting straight-ahead jazz. It’s what set us apart from all the other venues in the country … but it wasn’t like I came in and drastically changed everything. We adapted with the times and took more chances than others.”
The Blue Note’s success as a performance-focused club has allowed the brand to grow internationally, with the success of locations in Tokyo and Nagoya contributing to plans for expansion into markets in Australia, China and other Asian countries. If all goes well, Asian visitors will be primed to seek out Blue Note Hawaii when they arrive in Waikiki, and touring artists will be able to enjoy a string of performances at venues throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
More than $3.5 million was spent renovating the former Society of Seven Showroom at the Outrigger Waikiki, turning the 9,000-square-foot space into a state-of-the-art performance venue. A tour of the room last week confirmed there isn’t really a bad seat among the 300 that are grouped into three different price levels. Specific seats cannot be reserved for what is described as “premium,” “loge” and “bar seating,” however, so guests will need to show up early for the best placement by Blue Note staff.
In general, performances will be scheduled for 7 p.m. (doors open at 5 p.m.) and 9:30 p.m. (doors open at 9 p.m.) daily, 365 days a year. A full menu will be available with chef Rodney Uyehara in charge of the kitchen.
“It’s a little bit bigger than New York, but it’s smaller than Tokyo and Milan,” Bensusan said of the Waikiki club. “In this case, the fact that everyone is so close to the stage is what makes it special. It’s a beautiful room and we’ll have great music. Even if you’re not a jazz fan, it’s about the experience of going out to dinner and seeing a great show.”
Blue Note Hawaii’s soft opening kicks off Monday with Maya Azucena, a regular performer at Blue Note’s New York club. Her versatile voice and familiar presence will make it easier for the venue’s New York-based audio engineers to tune the sound system and fix any problems before Jake Shimabukuro plays the first concerts by a Hawaii-based artist on Friday and Saturday. Tickets for Azucena’s performances are $15 for bar seats and $25 for table seats; Shimabukuro’s performances are priced at $35 and $45 for bar and table seats, respectively.
New Orleans’ Rebirth Brass Band will play a series of semiprivate shows Jan. 11-13, with 150 seats available to the general public each night priced at $25, $35 and $45. And then it’s the grand opening, with American Music Award-winning recording artist Kenny G playing two shows daily Jan. 14-17; tickets are $45 for bar seats, $65 for loge seats and $85 for premium table seating.
“He was performing at the Blue Note in New York in November,” Bensusan said. “I was telling him about it, and he said, ‘I want to be the opening act.’ So we said OK.”
Other upcoming performances include the Roy Hargrove Quartet (Jan. 18-23), Earl Klugh (Jan. 26-31), Roberta Gambarini (Feb. 2-7), Dee Dee Bridgewater (Feb. 9-14), Joe Robinson (Feb. 23-24), the John Scofield Quartet with Joe Lovano (March 1-6) and the Pedrito Martinez Group (March 8-13).
Call 777-4890 or visit bluenotehawaii.com for more information and to purchase tickets; a 15 percent discount is available to Hawaii residents and military with valid ID. Validated parking is available at the Ohana Waikiki East, 150 Kaiulani Ave.
