Coming SOON TO NUBIAN SQUARE
INTRODUCING
THE JAZZ URBANE CAFE CAFE COLLECTION
As we kick off 2023, we are pleased to announce that we are launching our first retail offering - the Jazz Urbane Cafe Collection.
The Jazz Urbane Cafe Collection curates a “starter kit” of sorts that gives you a taste of what is to come and let’s you bring Jazz Urbane home. Each kit includes:
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1 Apron
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1 Hat
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2 Stemless Wine Glasses
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1 Canvas Tote
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Jazz Urbane stickers and pins
Not only is the collection something you have to have, but it is the perfect gift for the foodie, oenophile or music lover in your life.
More than that, purchasing the collection is a great way to support Black-owned business in Boston and to invest in an up-and-coming cultural and economic anchor in Roxbury’s Nubian Square.
All orders will be delivered to your home and quantities are limited so purchase yours today!
ABOUT
JAZZ URBANE CAFE
Jazz Urbane Cafe is a new arts and restaurant venture planned to launch soon in Boston’s Nubian Square neighborhood. Jazz Urbane Cafe will be an urban arts venue that spotlights local and national artists who define and celebrate the diverse cultural traditions that make Boston a unique and global city. Complementing our performance series will be an exciting dining program designed to make the Cafe a full sensory experience.
NEWS + Updates
Black leaders are developing Nubian Square. Can they revitalize the economic heart of Black Boston?
Boston Globe (March 23, 2023)
Richard Taylor gazed at the Boston skyline in 1975, eyes focused on the Prudential Tower. From the roof of his Dudley Square townhouse, he had a great view of the skyscraper — a symbol of the city’s next step in urbanization. In that moment, Taylor knew his neighborhood would eventually be touched by that kind of investment. Now, he can finally see that day just over the horizon.
Taylor is one of the most prominent Black developers in Boston. With his partners, he is bringing an ambitious project dubbed Nubian Square Ascends to the neighborhood, which was renamed in 2019. It is a 97,000-square-foot, $120 million endeavor — financed in part by equity crowdfunding from local residents — that will sit on the city-owned Blair Lot. The development will include 15 condo units for artists, a life sciences training center, a 300-space parking lot, a performance hall, and a food market.
Celebrating Change — and Calling for More — in Classical Music
Dr. Bill Banfield, Boston Globe (March 15, 2023)
“Young man, anyone can be creative,” the composer T.J. Anderson once told me. “The duty of the composer is to document the culture as he or she sees it.”
I consider Anderson, a leading contemporary composer, to be my musical father. He shared this insight with me when I was a young composer at New England Conservatory in the early 1980s and he was chair of the music department at Tufts University. I aspired to be a symphony composer whose work was commissioned and performed one day, and Anderson helped me see what it truly means to contribute to society as an artist. All these years later, his words still ring true.
Jazz Urbane Cafe Plans for 2023 Opening in Roxbury
Boston.com (December 30, 2022)
Roxbury will be seeing the arrival of a new arts and cultural space in 2023. In Nubian Square’s Bolling Building, Jazz Urbane Cafe, a jazz club and restaurant, will hold what directors hope will be a soft opening in the summer. Its arts program will feature nightly musical performances, as well as film screenings, dance and theater shows, and installations, while culinary and bar programs will make the cafe “a full sensory experience,” according to its website.
Jazz Club and Restaurant in the Works for Nubian Square
Boston Globe (December 21, 2022)
A Boston-area neighborhood is about to get jazzy. Jazz Urbane Cafe, a 200-seat jazz club and restaurant, is heading for the Bolling Building in Roxbury’s Nubian Square. The cafe will be an “urban arts venue” that spotlights local and national artists “who define and celebrate the diverse cultural traditions that make Boston a unique and global city,” according to its website.
The cafe received approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals earlier this month. Its owners, local entrepreneurs Bill Banfield, Nia Grace, and Turahn Dorsey, are hoping for a June 2023 opening, according to their attorney Lesley Delaney Hawkins.
Nubian Square Jazz Cafe Wins Approval; Bill Providing for a Liquor License Goes to Governor
The Universal Hub (December 13, 2022)
The Zoning Board of Appeal today unanimously approved plans for Jazz Urbane Cafe, a 200-seat performance space and restaurant in Nubian Square's Bolling Building. Separately, a bill that would give Boston five new liquor licenses - four for the Bolling Building and one for the Strand Theatre in Uphams Corner, could soon be signed by Gov. Baker, Jazz Urbane attorney Lesley Delaney Hawkins said today.
"Some of us love jazz, so this is a good thing," board Chairman Mark Erlich, in which is likely his last meeting on the board, said.
Boston Restaurant Updates : Odds and Ends
Boston Magazine (December 12, 2022)
Also a step closer to opening? Jazz Urbane Cafe in Nubian Square. Once open, the café will play host to live music, other entertainment, and community events, and it will also serve lunch and dinner, plus catering—“a fusion of global flavors with many ingredients sourced locally.”
LISTEN
Jazz Urbane Cafe’s sister company, Jazz Urbane Recordings, is a contemporary music label that embraces Jazz’s, R+B’s, Hip Hop’s and Classical’s powerful legacies. Check here for current album and playlist releases from the label! And, expect to see all of these wonderful artists on the Jazz Urbane Cafe stage.
Produced by Bill Banfield and Turahn Dorsey in collaboration with Joey Blake and Prince Charles Alexander, “Hey… Holla When You Hear Me,” like its 2014 predecessor “Playing With Other People’s Heads,” seamlessly blends contemporary styles, creating a powerful dialogue between genres and musical traditions. Every Bill Banfield album is an event because it brings together an incredible community of artists and this release does not disappoint.
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