New York Jazz-Rock Hotspot Iridium Reopens to Full Houses
variety.comJem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter two years of pandemic-induced shutdown and Omicron-postponed reopenings in December and January, Iridium, the downstairs music club in New York’s Times Square known as the “home of Les Paul,” is finishing the second week of its grand reopening, which launched on March 1 with a performance by the Harlem Blues Project, followed by four shows with a fiery jazz-rock band led by guitarist Mike Stern (featuring the great Randy Brecker on cornet), blues guitarist King Solomon Hicks, veteran folksinger Tom Rush and tonight and Saturday, guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, and jazz guitarist Larry Carlton, including sets focused on his extensively 1970s work with Steely Dan.The unusually intimate (for New York, anyway) 170-capacity downstairs club, which has updated its cleaning procedures and air-filtration system, returned with a full menu (including entrees like “The Les Paul” burger and the plant-based “Jerry Garcia”) a robust wine list and many (potent) specialty cocktails.
The club is also launching Iridium Underground, a new series focused on emerging artists, next week with Brooklyn-based guitarist-producer Mario and the Mood.
The club originally opened on the Upper West Side in 1994; David Bowie, Paul McCartney and Keith Richards would occasionally stop by for Les Paul’s weekly residency, which lasted for 14 years until his passing in 2009.
Artists who have performed at the venue include Jeff Beck, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, the Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts (below), Dua Lipa, Gary Clarke Jr.
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