The jazz-infused interior design of New York City's most iconic music clubs is coming back to life. Musician and artist Jason Moran is recreating two long-demolished jazz venues, the Savoy ballroom and the Three Deuces, in a Brooklyn gallery.
Art Director for Jazz at the Kennedy Center, Moran was sifting through old photographs of New York's iconic jazz performers when he started to notice the walls and architectural elements that surrounded the music.
"These grand spaces were built for music, built for enjoyment," Moran said in a short documentary about his sculptures. "Those places have a kind of lore and mythology to them. You descended into this basement to find the heavens."
The Savoy Ballroom was a world-renowned Harlem jazz venue that could hold an audience of 4,000 people, and its glamorous interior—filled with pink-painted walls, mirrors, and crystal chandeliers—was unforgettable.
Moran's recreation of the Savoy Ballroom's golden bandstand measures about 10-feet wide by 11-feet long and is meant to embody the swing era of jazz.
Bebop is represented by Moran's replica of the cramped corner stage at the Three Deuces on 52nd Street, button-tufted walls and all.
Moran mounted an earlier installation of his works at the Venice Biennale, complete with either live jazz performances or recordings.
The installation will be on view at the Luhring Augustine gallery in the Buskwick neighborhood through July 30, 2016.
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