Big Apple Jazz Tours - Group Sales and optional tours

Group options
based on groups of 25 or more with own transportation

Sample Options

1-Weekend Jazz Brunch: $50 per person

2-Jazz w/ Dinner: $75 per person

3-Jazz Set (without food or drink): $35 per person

4-: 5-hours of touring and live music in 3 clubs plus a delicious soul food dinner: $149 per person.

5-Private Tour Guide service to historical jazz sites of New York - 4-hours: $100.00/per hour. Group price: $400. Plus expenses.

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Please keep in mind that at Big Apple Jazz Tours clients are encouraged to help design their customized jazz tours by suggesting a wish list of activities that suits their needs and desires.

Nothing is impossible in the world capital of jazz. For example: We can arrange a visit to an old Harlem Speakeasy and get to do a workshop with a local musician for an additional $30 per person; or arrange for some of your talented members to join a jam session (price depends on the day of the week).

We can visit a Brooklyn or Harlem brownstone and arrange a private recital for the group to fit their itinerary for $30 per person. There is no limit to what can be accomplished, and we will work hard to suit any budget.

The important thing is getting exactly what you want out of your Big Apple Jazz experience. Live jazz styles available are limitless here in New York City: Swing, Vocals, Bebop, Latin, Soul Jazz, Acid Jazz, Blues, Fusion, Trad., Modern, Free and from soloists to orchestras - everything is here.

Seven nights a week, anytime from early eveing to 4AM some great live jazz can be found playing somewhere in town.

Big Apple Jazz Tours is the only tour company in New York that is capable of getting you where you're going and getting it done right.

Choose any or all of these group activities!
This list is based on a possible 6 day schedule..

Pricing per person based on group of 25 or more

Jazz Supper Club and games (7PM - ?) Visit to a world famous jazz club to hear one of the internationally known legends of jazz with 3-course dinner included. We follow this with a fun, underground jazz club featuring great New York talent in the Village that will stay open till the wee hours of the morning where you can enjoy the jazz while playing games like billiards, ping pong, shuffle board, and cards ($150-alcoholic drinks and games not included).

Traditional Jazz plus Dinner and Dancing. (6:30-11PM) Visit the oldest jazz club in NYC and hear the Grove Street Stompers as they celebrate 50 years of music making. We'll drink to their longevity and then head up to Times Square and continue our tour of early jazz styles with a Grammy Award winning 18 piece jazz orchestra playing the music of the 1920's and 30's. An Italian dinner is included. ($90-no alcohol included).

Queens and Jazz (5-hours Day Time) Louis Armstrong House Tour in Queens: Satchmo spent most of his home life in this modest working class neighborhood far from the showbiz glitz he endured during his busy touring life. You will enjoy seeing how the Armstrong's added their personality to the individual rooms. See Louis's handwritten lyrics sheets from his 1961 summit meeting with Duke Ellington; rare photographs and sheet music from the epic 1954 album, "Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy"; a photograph and score from a "Hot Seven" date for Decca in 1941; treasures from Armstrong and Dave Brubeck's challenging work, "The Real Ambassadors"; and more!

Great Day in Harlem Tour: (8-hours from 2-10PM) Take a stroll on the Blvd. of Dreams and rub the lucky Tree of Hope. This tour includes sightseeing of all historic and current jazz venues within Harlem’s famous jazz neighborhoods from Jungle Alley in Central Harlem to Duke’s Place up on Sugar Hill. See the sites of the Savoy Ballroom, Cotton Club, Count Basie’s Club, Small’s Paradise, Connie’s Inn, and the birthplace of bebop, Minton’s Playhouse. This tour includes a private jazz concert in an historic Harlem Renaissance apartment atop Sugar Hill and a private tour of the Apollo Theater and Amateur Night show tickets, plus a sumptuous down home soul food dinner. ($199)

Legendary Double Header: (7:30PM - 12AM and beyond) Your jazz guide will select the two best shows in NYC for this particular night including the legends of jazz; and for those who want more there will be a third option in an underground all night club. Dinner at club optional - not included ($150).

Elegant Farewell Supper Club (8-12AM) private dining at Harlem's swankiest speakeasy. Hang with the beautiful people in the club that Barack and Michelle like best in Harlem. Dinner and 2 sets of music and mingling. ($145)

More Options:

1a) Harlem Sights and Sounds - 4-hours

1:00PM - Pick Up from your hotel by Gordon Polatnick, founder of Big Apple Jazz Tours. We will start with a short drive with commentary up to Harlem, the cradle of the New York jazz scene since the early decades of the last century.

1:30PM - Our route will take us past the Apollo Theater for a photo stop, and the Legendary Tree of Hope on our way to visit the home of Harlem's jazz and theater hostess, Marjorie Eliot, for a private recital in her living room. Marjorie's apartment building, The Triple Nickel, was also home to jazz greats Count Basie, Johnny Hodges, Andy Kirk among others. A jazz trio will play the standards Ellington, Strayhorn and other composers who've left their mark on world culture from their Harlem home base.

2:30PM - A special stop up the street to browse in a vintage jazz bookstore housed in a Harlem brownstone; or to see the oldest residence in Manhattan, the Morris-Jumel Mansion, and its lovely grounds leading to the most charming and picturesque hidden street in NYC: Sylvain Terrace. This hill-top oasis offers wonderful views of Yankee Stadium across the Harlem River.

3:00PM - The next portion of the tour is dedicated to learning about and visiting the sites that made jazz history such as the sites of the original Cotton Club, Savoy Ballroom, Minton's Playhouse, Small's Paradise, Connie's Inn, as well as the Sugar Hill and Striver's Row homes of Duke Ellington, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Mary Lou Williams, Eubie Blake and others. And if time and weather permit, take a short walk along the Harlem Walk of Fame to the site of the original Big Apple jazz club.

5:00PM - We will conclude the tour back at your hotel in time to rest up for a great evening of jazz..

Total: $1500 divided by number of participants (included mini-bus seats up to 34 guests at a time). No food included.

2) Soulful Jazz and Soul Food in Harlem - 4-hours

You will be picked-up from your hotel by Gordon Polatnick, founder of Big Apple Jazz Tours, for an evening of great jazz and delicious soul food in a fabulous supper club in the heart of the jazz district of Harlem. Our route will take us past some of the finest row houses and brownstones created over a hundred years ago by the best architects of New York.

Your menu choices will consist of a variety of delectable Southern and Caribbean cooking options including: Pan Seared Salmon, Honey BBQ Baby Back Ribs, Sautéed Shrimp, Chicken & Waffles and Centered-cut Pork Chops. Desserts include: Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie, Homemade Bread & Butter Pudding w/rum and caramel sauce and Peach Cobbler. Side dishes include collard greens, plantains, macaroni and cheese, corn bread and other delights, coffee or tea and a soft drink round out the menu for a superbly savory meal.

One of the finest female vocalists from the Harlem jazz scene and her quartet will be on hand to serenade us for two magnificent sets of standards and foot stompers. And you never know who will walk in off the street to sit in.

10:30PM Back at hotel. It will be an evening you will not forget that delivers on Harlem's historic promise that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

$750 for transportation by mini-bus up to 34 guests
$400 for licensed guide service for up to 4-hours. Including sightseeing and commentary.

$25 for 2 sets of jazz.
$50 for 2 course meal and soft drink, with no alcohol, or
$75 for a 3 course meal adding dessert and coffee/tea.
All taxes and gratuities are included in price quotes.

email : gordon@bigapplejazz.com

Call Gordon at 917 863-7854