![]() ![]() I arrived at Kennedy Airport and then I went to Augie’s and saw Junior Cook, Cecil Payne and Arthur Taylor. Not this club, it was a club here called Augie’s previously, before we opened Smoke. Paul, I read that you were at the club on your first night visiting New York. “If they hear the music that’s spilling through the door from the club, if it strikes their musical appetite, they might poke a head in and check it out,” Stache said. ![]() With the new lounge area, the duo hopes to turn even more people into jazz lovers, since guests can now come in without buying a ticket. On July 21, after two years of being closed inside, Smoke is reopening its famed doors with an expanded space, including a new lounge and a larger stage. Another indication of the neighborhood’s need for their club came from the outpouring of support from their community, which included customers writing letters to elected officials to get them help. This served as a powerful reminder of the importance of live music, especially during difficult moments. ![]() “One night we had one working lane on Broadway because people were just standing there looking for live music with tears in their eyes,” Stache recalled. Once the tables were taken, people just stood on the street, listening. That September, they put up outdoor greenhouses where diners could sit and watch the performers, who played in their windows. They pivoted their multifaceted business, running not only a jazz club, but a restaurant and bar, by hosting live stream concerts in the summer of 2020. When the pandemic hit, the pair, who lives a few blocks from the club at 106th and Broadway, had to recreate that comfortable, living room feel they were known for by neighbors and tourists alike. The now-married couple manage to host some of the biggest names in jazz in “one of the smaller rooms in town” for live music. Stache, a native of Germany, bought the venue, formerly named Augie’s, in April of 1999, and Johnson, who hails from Michigan, began bartending there that October after suffering a knee injury that ended her ballet career. Paul Stache and Molly Sparrow Johnson met at Smoke Jazz Club and are now a part of its storied history. ![]()
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