A jazz club for American tourists…read more
Okay, there was one Australian lady and a few Chinese.
Everyone else was American.
Prices are sky-high because this is a soak the tourist situation.
Alexanderplatz which is the premiere jazz club in Rome charges $18 euros for a month membership - no cover after that - and $12 per drink. So once you have paid your monthly cover charge, you can hear all the jazz you want for free - or if need be for $12 euros a drink
At Alexanderplatz, the performances are legendary with some of the most innovative and technically amazing musicians in Rome.
We dropped over $150 euros at Gregory's.
We got a perfectly reasonable yeoman guitarist. But nothing like the artistic lions that routinely perform over at Alexanderplatz.
Now to be fair, we had dinner at Gregory's and we never eat at Alexanderplatz.
The standard "sushi dinner" was perfectly reasonable yeoman sushi.
There was so little of it that we both had to order a la carte dishes afterwards.
The extra extras seriously expanded the final tab.
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One argument in Gregory's favor: their bar is extraordinary.
The bar at Alexanderplatz is mediocre.
Gregory's charges top dollar for its bar offerings, but what they mix and what is in their bottles is worth every single euro they ask for.
I would be perfectly happy to just go to the bar, and order a few premium beverages.
I would hear my wallet cry.
But I would know that I was drinking supremely well in return for my investment.
Fortunately, the bar is downstairs from the club.
I would not have to put up with the shenanigans in the club.
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The problem with the club is the crowd.
At most, one third of the customers are actually there to listen to jazz.
The room is filled with tourists taking selfies.
There are also hot-daters playing snuggle-buns.
Many of them will leave mid-set so they can go back to the hotel.
Gregory's is less about the music and more about selling happy memories of Rome.
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Alexanderplatz gets a mostly Italian crowd.
You are looking as musicians, music critics, academics, and all purpose artsy types - as well as normal Italian human beings who just want to hear fine music.
The music is taken very very seriously.
Yeah, there are usually two or three tables with good time Charlies who are doing the phone recording, party hearty thing.
But this is 8% of the audience at Alexanderplatz as opposed to 70% of the audience at Gregory's.
To be fair to the crowd at Gregory's, the music at Alexanderplatz is simply better.
The jazz at Alexanderplatz is capable of transfixing even philistines with tin ears.
Gregory's jazz doesn't put that much on the table.
But the crowd at Alexanderplatz sets me up for listening to mystic, complex music with the highest level of attention and aesthetic receptiveness.
The crowd at Gregory's just gets me irritated.
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If you are in Rome with a hot date, go to Gregory's.
Be prepared to shell out the bucks.
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If you are in Rome with someone who can truly appreciate once-in-a-lifetime musical experiences, take them to Alexanderplatz.
After you talk about the music for half an hour after the concert,
You can still go back to the hotel.
Just figure that the hotel will be the second best part of the night.
