Sweet Basil Jazz Club

Former jazz club in New York City

Sweet Basil was a jazz club in New York City's Greenwich Village, located at 88 Seventh Avenue South. Founded in 1974 by Sharif Esmat, it was considered among the most prominent New York City jazz clubs of its day.^[1] Many jazz albums were recorded live at Sweet Basil, including Cecil Taylor's Iwontunwonsi, McCoy Tyner's Live at Sweet Basil (1989) and Solar: Live at Sweet Basil, and the Jean-Michel Pilc Trio's Together: Live at Sweet Basil. From 1981 to 1992, the club was owned by Phyllis Litoff and her husband Mel Litoff.^[2]

The club closed in April 2001.^[3]

Recorded performances

Recorded performances at the club include:^[4]

1977 – Ron Carter: Piccolo (Milestone)
1977 – Junior Mance: Live at Sweet Basil (Flying Disk)
1977 – Cecil McBee Sextet with Chico Freeman: Music from the Source and Compassion (Enja)
1978 – Jim Hall/Red Mitchell (Artists House)
1981 – Chris Connor: Lover, Come Back to Me
1983 - Hamiet Bluiett: Bearer Of The Holy Flame (Black Fire – BF19931)
1983 – Abdullah Ibrahim with Carlos Ward: Live at Sweet Basil Vol. 1 (Ekapa)
1983 – Valery Ponomarev with Don Braden - John Hicks At Sweet Basil (Reservoir)
1984 – Leroy Jenkins: Urban Blues (Black Saint)
1984 – David Murray Big Band: Live at Sweet Basil Volume 1 & Live at Sweet Basil Volume 2 (Black Saint)
1984 – Gil Evans & The Monday Night Orchestra: Live at Sweet Basil, Live at Sweet Basil Vol. 2 (Gramavision)
1985 – Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers Live At Sweet Basil (GNP Crescendo) (Paddle Wheel)
1985 – Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers Hard Champion (Evidence)
1985 – Gunter Hampel New York Orchestra: Fresh Heat: Live at Sweet Basil (Birth) with Jeanne Lee, Perry Robinson, Mark Whitecage, Thomas Keyserling, Curtis Fowlkes, Bill Frisell, Bob Stewart, Marvin Smitty Smith u.a.
1985 – Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Dr Jeckyle (Evidence)
1985 – Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: New Year's Eve At Sweet Basil (Evidence)
1985 – Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Farewell (released 1990) (King)
1986 – Gil Evans & The Monday Night Orchestra: Bud and Bird, Farewell (Electric Bird/King)
1986 – The Jazztet (led by Art Farmer and Benny Golson): Back to the City, Real Time (Contemporary)
1986 – Terence Blanchard/Donald Harrison: Eric Dolphy & Booker Little Remembered Live at Sweet Basil, Vol. 1 & 2 (Evidence) with Mal Waldron, Richard Davis, Ed Blackwell
1987 – Mal Waldron: The Super Quartet Live at Sweet Basil (Paddle Wheel)
1988 – Paul Bley: Live at Sweet Basil (Soul Note)
1988 – Randy Brecker Quintet: Live at Sweet Basil (Sonet)
1988 – Sonny Greenwich: Live at Sweet Basil (Justin Time)
1988 – Oliver Jones: Cookin' at Sweet Basil (Justin Time Records)
1989 – Richard Davis: One for Frederick – Live at Sweet Basil (Hep)
1989 – McCoy Tyner: Live at Sweet Basil (King)
1989 – Uli Lenz/Cecil McBee/Joe Chambers: Live at Sweet Basil (Enja)
1990 – Nat Adderley: Autumn Leaves (Sweet Basil)
1990 - Nat Adderley: Work Song: Live at Sweet Basil (Sweet Basil)
1990 − Richard Davis and Friends live at Sweet Basil (Evidence) with Ricky Ford, Cecil Bridgewater, Roland Hanna, George Cables, Ronnie Burrage
1991 – Steve Grossman: In New York (Dreyfus)
1991 – Steve Lacy Sextet – Live at Sweet Basil (RCA Novus)
1991 – McCoy Tyner: Solar: Live at Sweet Basil (Sweet Basil Records)
1992 – Joanne Brackeen: Turnaround (Evidence)
1992 – Anders Bergcrantz: Live at Sweet Basil (Dragon/DIW)
1992 – Nick Brignola: Live At Sweet Basil - Fist Set (Reservoir)
1992 – Nick Brignola: Things Ain't What They Used to Be: Last Set At Sweet Basil (Reservoir)
1992 – The Enja Band live at Sweet Basil (Enja) with Willie Williams, Gust Tsilis, Uri Caine, Michael Formanek, Cecil Brooks III
1992 – Doc Cheatham: Live at Sweet Basil (Jazzology)
1992 – Art Farmer Quintet: Live at Sweet Basil (Evidence)
1992 – Dave Matthews / Manhattan Jazz Quintet: Manteca (Evidence)
1993 – Wolfgang Muthspiel Group: In & Out (Amadeo)
1995 – Cecil Taylor: Iwontunwonsi – Live at Sweet Basil (Sound Hills)
1995 – Cecil Taylor: Amewa – Live at Sweet Basil (Sound Hills)
1998 – Greg Osby: Banned in New York (Blue Note)
1999 – Michele Rosewoman: Guardians of the Light (Enja)
2000 – Cecil Brooks III/John Hicks: Live at Sweet Basil 2 (Savant)

References

^ Paul ODonnell. "Beyond the Boardroom with Stewart Kohl". The Plain Dealer. April 5, 2008.
^ Janas, Marci, "The Wellspring of Sweet Basil: Mel Litoff and Phyllis Weisbart Litoff", Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Vol. 103, No. 3, Winter 2005/2006.
^ "Sweet Basil to Close This Month; New Club Planned at Site". The New York Times. April 7, 2001. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
^ Discogs, Allmusic bzw. Cook/Morton: Penguin Guide to Jazz.

40°44′04″N 74°00′09″W / 40.7345°N 74.0024°W / 40.7345; -74.0024

Greenwich Village (including Meatpacking District, South Village, and West Village)

Manhattan, New York City

Buildings

Broadway–6th Avenue	74–96 MacDougal Street, 170–188 Sullivan Street Butterfield House Cable Building General Winfield Scott House Mills House No. 1 One Fifth Avenue University Village Washington Square Village Whitney Museum of American Art
West of 6th Avenue	2 Horatio Street 40 Tenth Avenue 45 Christopher Street 75½ Bedford Street 131 Charles Street 173 and 176 Perry Street 299 West 12th Street 302 West 12th Street Bell Laboratories Building Westbeth Artists Community Federal Office Building New York County National Bank Building Palazzo Chupi Salvation Army Headquarters St. John's Terminal Superior Ink West Village Houses
Former	Canterbury Hall Jefferson Market Prison

Culture

Shops, restaurants, and nightlife	Arthur's Tavern Barbuto The Bitter End Blue Hill Blue Note Jazz Club Café Bohemia Cafe Wha? Caffe Reggio Comedy Cellar Commerce Inn Cubbyhole Dante Don Angie Duplex Cabaret Theatre Frevo Gotham Bar and Grill I Sodi Jeju Noodle Bar Joe's Pizza John's of Bleecker Street Julius Kesté Kettle of Fish King Kosaka (Le) Poisson Rouge Les Trois Chevaux Lord's Marie's Crisis Minetta Tavern One If By Land, Two If By Sea Oscar Wilde Bookshop Perry Street Pommes Frites Red Paper Clip Semma Sevilla Smalls Jazz Club Stonewall Inn National LGBTQ Wall of Honor Sushi Nakazawa Via Carota Village Vanguard Wallsé White Horse Tavern
Museums and galleries	Center for Architecture Fort Gansevoort Maccarone Makeup Museum White Columns Whitney Museum
Hotels	Hotel Albert Hotel Gansevoort The Jane Marlton House The Standard, High Line
Theaters, studios	Barrow Street Theatre Cherry Lane Theatre Electric Lady Studios Film Forum IFC Center Lucille Lortel Theatre Minetta Lane Theatre New Ohio Theatre The Players Theatre Provincetown Playhouse Quad Cinema Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
Former	ANTA Washington Square Theatre Apostolic Recording Studio Avignone Chemists The Beatrice Inn Boomer's The Bottom Line Cafe Au Go Go Café Clover Café Society Caffe Vivaldi Carbone Cedar Tavern Chumley's The Cooler Cornelia Street Cafe Da Silvano El Faro Restaurant Eve's Hangout Film Guild Cinema Florent Garrick Cinema The Gaslight Cafe Gerde's Folk City Grand Central Hotel Greenspon Gallery Greenwich Village Theatre Hot Feet Club Hotel Lafayette KGB Espionage Museum Lion's Den Mineshaft Mori Nell's Nick's Nix Old Grapevine Pfaff's Piora Plane Space The Plumm Ramrod Rocco Restaurant San Remo Cafe Seventh Avenue South Sheridan Square Playhouse Soto The Spotted Pig Sweet Basil Jazz Club Tenjune Trude Heller's The Village Den Village Gate ZZ's Clam Bar

Parks, green spaces, and plazas

Current

Abingdon Square Park
Christopher Street Pier
Christopher Park
- Gay Liberation Monument
- Statue of Philip Sheridan
Father Demo Square
High Line
Hudson River Park
Jackson Square Park
James J. Walker Park
Little Island at Pier 55
McCarthy Square
Mulry Square
New York City AIDS Memorial
Pier 40
Washington Square Park
- Bust of Alexander Lyman Holley
- Statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Washington Square Arch
West Fourth Street Courts
Winston Churchill Square

Former

Coles Sports and Recreation Center

Education

Libraries and schools	City-As-School High School Jefferson Market Library Notre Dame School PS 41 St. Luke's School Village Community School
Postsecondary	The New School for Social Research Fogelman Social Sciences and Humanities Library University Center New York University Brown Building Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò Elmer Holmes Bobst Library Fales Library Gould Plaza La Maison Française Silver Center Skirball Center for the Performing Arts University Village New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture Pratt Institute School of Information
Other	Greenwich House Greenwich House Music School Greenwich House Pottery HB Studio School for Poetic Computation
Former	École libre des hautes études Grammar School No. 35 New York Workers School

Religion
Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village Church of St. Luke in the Fields First Presbyterian Church Judson Memorial Church Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Bernard Church Our Lady of Pompeii Church St. Veronica Church Trinity Chapel Washington Square Methodist Episcopal Church

Transportation

Subway stations	14th Street/Sixth Avenue 14th Street/Eighth Avenue Broadway–Lafayette Street/Bleecker Street Christopher Street–Sheridan Square Eighth Street–New York University Houston Street West Fourth Street–Washington Square
PATH stations	Christopher Street Ninth Street 14th Street
Streets	4th Street 5th Avenue 6th Avenue 7th Avenue 8th Avenue 8th Street 14th Street Bank Street Bleecker Street Christopher Street Gay Street Greenwich Avenue Greenwich Street Houston Street Hudson Street Jones Street LaGuardia Place MacDougal Street Patchin Place Thompson Street University Place Washington Mews Washington Street Waverly Place Weehawken Street West Street