One year ago, this newspaper posed a simple question: “Where are musicians playing jazz in Chattanooga?”
Today, the answer is equally simple: “Everywhere.”
Jazz has settled comfortably into the city’s restaurants, bars, lounges, speakeasies, breweries, small performing venues and anywhere else with a corner large enough for a drum kit and a couple of amplifiers.
From saxophonist Eric Towler crooning over backing tracks at a cigar bar in East Ridge to a daylong celebration staged by Chattanooga Jazz Fest at the Chattanooga Choo Choo in October, sweet notes now drift through the Scenic City on any given week – whether you want to listen while you eat, drink or dance, but especially while you drink.
A vivid snapshot of the scene was displayed in February at Gate 11 Distillery inside the Chattanooga Choo Choo. If you were there, you already know. If you weren’t, consider this your nudge not to miss the next event.
Each Friday night, a rotating ensemble of some of Chattanooga’s finest musicians took the stage for two hours of mostly jazz standards. There was no cover charge; patrons simply stepped inside, found a seat or leaned against a wall and let the music wash over them.
And this was no background hotel bar kitsch. These were serious players – in several cases, masters of their instruments – digging into repertoire that demands both technical command and emotional intelligence.
When Charlie Parker was redefining bebop at Birdland in 1940s New York, he could hardly have imagined that decades later, in cities like Chattanooga, young musicians would still be extending the language he helped create. Yet that’s precisely what happens when players such as Austin Pettit lift a saxophone and spin Parker’s restless lines into something both reverent and fresh on a stage like Gate 11’s.
The monthlong series doubled as a fundraiser for CJF, whose mission is to increase visibility and advocacy for the local jazz scene through monthly events and its annual fall festival. You might not have noticed the fundraising aspect unless you spotted the modest tip bucket or small table of merchandise near the stage. The music, not the pitch, took center stage.
At the helm on the nights I attended was guitarist Adam Stone. He might prefer that the spotlight rest squarely on his fellow musicians, but telling a story about CFJ without mentioning Stone would be like recounting “The Pied Piper” and forgetting the flutist. Beyond being one of the city’s most accomplished jazz guitarists, he’s among its most tireless advocates – a jazz evangelist in the truest sense.
Still, the series – and especially the open jam that ended it Feb. 27 – belonged to everyone.
The final night offered a jaw-dropping display not only of the depth of Chattanooga’s jazz talent but also of its breadth. For two hours, the stage at Gate 11 saw more new shoes than a grand opening at a Payless. Musicians signed up, listed their instruments and, every couple of tunes, rotated on and off the bandstand. A guitarist would relieve Stone, a saxophonist would step in for Pettit, and keyboardists, drummers and vocalists flowed through in a seamless procession.
Someone even arrived with a squeezebox. If it makes music, it can make jazz.
If you imagine that the local talent amounted to little more than a serviceable house band, think again. Towler painted the room with deep, burnished tones, his saxophone voice both muscular and tender. A young keyboardist – who appeared to have been granted an extra set of hands – unleashed rapid-fire runs across the electronic keys, sending cascades of notes through the room with breathtaking control.
These were not merely competent musicians. They were elite players, worthy of audiences larger than the one that packed Gate 11 that night.
(For the record, Gate 11’s physical stage is more than up to the task. It’s deep and wide enough to accommodate a sizable ensemble while still affording everyone elbow room, and its placement near the entrance gives performers prominent visibility. No jazz trio is crammed apologetically into a corner here.)
If you missed CFJ’s February performances, take heart: Like an extended Keith Jarrett improvisation, the music isn’t finished – it’s simply carrying us forward.
On Saturday, March 28, from 7-9 p.m., Chattanooga Jazz Fest will host Spring Jazz at The Woodshop, 5500 St. Elmo Avenue. Tickets are $10 – a remarkable exchange rate for this level of talent. In April, jazz moves to Songbirds, 206 W. Main St., for the inaugural Big Band Collegiate Showcase featuring the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Jacksonville State University jazz bands, beginning at 7 p.m.
Tickets for that event will be $15 at the door, with proceeds supporting – cue Buddy Rich drum roll – the 2026 Chattanooga Jazz Festival, scheduled for Oct. 25 at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.
In the meantime, if you find yourself wondering where jazz is playing in Chattanooga, the answer remains the same.
Everywhere.