When clubs shuttered, The Jazz Gallery emerged like a phoenix
"I predicted the pandemic wouldn't change live music," says Rio Sakairi, Artistic Director for the NYC jazz club. "And it hasn't."
The set broke around 9:15 on a Friday night in October. Narrow aisles bottlenecked with listeners. While Delta loomed outside, The Jazz Gallery hummed with pressurized excitement. Few wore masks. Many focused on cream puffs plated in the green room to celebrate the late 's 52nd birthday. Among elbow taps and clinking plastic cups, the mood reflected something untraceable yet palpable: Through a year of isolation and tense returns,
