This week, downtown Phoenix music venue The Nash began a $2.5 million expansion and renovation of its facilities along Roosevelt Row. The project, which launched on Tuesday, will add more space for performances, new amenities and a separate 3,200-square-foot jazz education center.
Upgrades to The Nash, located at 110 E. Roosevelt St., will include a new green room, stage and a full bar, as well as seating options like booths and banquettes. Enhanced food offerings and restrooms will also be added.
Construction on the project — which is partly funded by a $1 million donation by Scottsdale-based nonprofit, the John Dawson Foundation — will take place through the end of September. (A grand reopening will take place from Oct. 17 to 20.)
All shows originally scheduled for The Nash over the summer have been moved to Venue 122 at the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, 122 E. Culver St.
Joel Goldenthal, The Nash’s executive director, says the project will improve the venue’s digs and allow for better show-going experience for patrons. It’s the biggest renovation to the venue since it opened in 2012.
“We’re expanding the club and redoing it to make it more attractive with better seating and service,” Goldenthal says. “There will also be an expanded lobby so we don't have the congestion we’ve been living with for the first 13 years of operation.”
More importantly, Goldenthal says, is the addition of the John Dawson Center for Jazz Education, which will allow The Nash to continue its long-running mission of spreading the joys of the genre to the next generation of musicians.
The importance of jazz education at The Nash
In addition to serving as one of the Valley’s most prominent jazz hubs over the past 13 years, The Nash has provided classes and instruction in the genre to local youths and Arizona State University students.“Jazz is an original American art form. It's an integral part of our culture, our society. It’s a hallmark of culturally-sophisticated cities,” Goldenthal says. “We have a responsibility and obligation to deliver education to our community. It's vital,” Goldenthal says.
Four jazz education programs are currently offered through The Nash: a pair of “legacy ensemble” programs where five to six students are instructed by the top jazz educators in the state, which Goldenthal says givens students “opportunities to be exposed to and learn from the professionals.” Separate programs for beginner musicians and for girls ages 10 to 18 are also offered.
There’s been plenty of interest in The Nash’s jazz education programs in recent years. Since they hired Dr. Clark Gibson, the venue’s director of development and communications, in 2022, Goldenthal estimates demand has increased approximately 400%.
Space for The Nash’s jazz education programs, though, has been limited. Goldenthal says students were “crammed” into a small area located in the rear of The Nash. Programs and classes had to work around The Nash’s performance schedule, he says.
“The way things were set up, we were limited to performances Thursday through Sunday basically, because we had education Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,” Goldenthal says. “It was necessary to separate our education in order to be able to maximize our performance and educational missions.”
The new Dawson Center for Jazz Education, which will be located in an existing building just north of The Nash, will offer much more room for classes and programs. (The space will also house the offices of Jazz in Arizona, the local nonprofit overseeing The Nash.)
“What we're doing is market-driven. It wasn't pie in the sky, it wasn't for vanity, it wasn't for any other reason but really responding to the market and growing appropriately in our educational capacity,” Goldenthal says.
Many of those same reasons were involved in The Nash’s decision to renovate its performance space.
‘We wanted to make The Nash more attractive’
Goldenthal says, like the decision to create a separate education center, The Nash and Jazz in Arizona’s decision to renovate was “partially market-driven.”Other factors include the end of their current lease and a desire to find a younger audience.
“Our lease was up and we either had to move or reconfigure, so we decided to stay and lease the additional space in the building nearby,” Goldenthal says. “We needed it to provide customers with a better experience and we wanted to make The Nash more attractive to a younger demographic.
The rapid growth of Roosevelt Row as a cultural and nightlife hub over the last decade also played a role in their decision, Goldenthal adds.
“We're in the most fast-developing corridor in the state, and there's a tremendous amount of business to be drawn to the facility, so we did it as an investment in developing future audiences,” he says.
Ultimately, the project will allow The Nash to balance its two missions.
“We could not do concurrent performances and education in our old configuration. Now we will be able to do performances seven nights a week if we want and have education spaces that’s independent from the performance space,” Goldenthal says. “At the same time, we will maintain the continuity and interaction between the performance space and education, which is a key factor to the students we are bringing into jazz.”
The Nash Summer Series at Venue 122
Here’s the complete schedule of The Nash’s summertime concerts at Venue 122, 122 E. Culver St. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. General admission is $34 per person.May 31: The Power Trio
June 1: Carmela y Más
June 3: Francine Reed
June 7: Sandra Bassett
June 8: MJ New Quartet
June 14: Charles Lewis Quintet + 1
June 15: Sherry Roberson
June 21: The Nash Jazz Summer Camp Faculty Concert
June 22: Dave Henning's Isotope
June 28: Dennis Rowland and Diana Lee Birthday Show
June 29: An Evening with Nicole Pesce
July 5: Alice Tatum
July 6: Tom Oren
July 13: Twin Tenors – Adam Roberts and Dave Schmidt
July 19: Raúl Yañez
July 20: Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington Tribute
July 26: Jermaine Lockhart
July 27: Delphine Cortez and Ralna English
Aug. 2: Stan Sorenson
Aug. 3: Nick Manson Quartet feat. Hope Morgan
Aug. 9: The Nash Supersax Band
Aug. 10: Mike Vax Quintet feat. Dennis Rowland
Aug. 16: The Nash Vocal Ensemble
Aug. 17: Lisa Hightower
Aug. 23: Charles Lewis Quintet +1
Aug. 24: Kim Weston
Aug. 30: Marcos Crego
Aug. 31: Nazim Rashid and New Renaissance
Sept. 6: Bob Daniels - The Music of Chet Baker
Sept. 7: Beth Lederman feat. Steven Powell
Sept. 13: Sandra Bassett
Sept. 14: Josiel Perez
Sept. 20: Natalie Gallatin
Sept. 21: Carmela y Más
Sept. 27: Pascual Bokar AfroBlueGrazz Band
