Jazz House Kids Cuts Ribbon on New Office, Studio

A former billiards hall on Bloomfield Avenue will now be an incubator for the future sounds of jazz. 

Jazz House Kids, a Montclair-based nonprofit which teaches musical education, is celebrating its 10th anniversary by moving to a new location at 347 Bloomfield Ave. Local, county and state officials joined former and current students Friday for a ribbon cutting to officially open the office and studio. 

“This has been one long journey,” said Founder and Executive Director Melissa Walker at the ribbon cutting on Friday to a large crowd, which included Rep. Donald Payne (D-10), state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), Assemblyman Thomas Giblin (D-Montclair), and members of the Montclair Council. 

“We are finally at our own ... jazz house,” said Fred Smagorinsky, chairman of the Jazz House Kids Board. “We just think this is going to launch the next era, the next 10 years of Jazz House Kids. ... This is an amazing turning point for us.”

The opening included students on piano, trumpet, bass and drums filling up the room with music.

The new home boasts 4,000-square feet of space, three studios, five offices and a conference room. The office and studio is a quantum leap from the nonprofit’s former location. Jazz House Kids was previously in a 400-square foot studio office on Park Street, and taught classes in the Salvation Army Citadel. 

Montclair Mayor Robert Jackson, who cut the ribbon at the opening, said the new space will be a turning point for the arts in both Montclair and the state. 

“I really think this is going to be the arts, jazz mecca not only for Montclair but the entire region” said Jackson. “I think the revival here seems to say, ‘We are on our way to making Montclair an even better arts mecca for the entire state of New Jersey.”

Looking forward to a long future at the new location, Walker pointed to a narrow alley way running from the office’s entrance in the N. Willow parking lot to the neighboring street Lackawanna Plaza. The alley way lacks lighting and is uninviting, but Walker said that will soon change. She hopes to eventually have lighting in the alley and art work adorn its walls. 

“I’m looking forward to it being lit up ... and it turning into the ‘Jazz Alley’ and putting one of our great Montclair artists [to work] to make it a beautiful mosaic dedicated to jazz,” said Walker.