by Mike Hays
Bucky Pizzarelli at Maureen's Jazz Cellar

Nyack composer/performer Dan Cohen says that Maureen’s Jazz Cellar might just be “the perfect room” to hear live music in Nyack. “It’s a place where heaven and Earth and the space-time continuum all align and synchronize to create a venue with a certain inalienable magic.”

Recently, the club hosted the Bucky Pizzarelli Trio (really a quartet) featuring Bucky and one of his sons, Martin. Bucky is still going strong at age of 91, having started his professional career in 1944.

This Week At
Maureen’s Jazz Cellar

Wed Mar 15: Comedy Night followed by
The Danielle Sheri Band

Thu Mar 16: Dead Night With Reflections Trio

Fri Mar 17: Duane Eubanks Quartet
St. Patrick’s Day Sing-A-Long Mar

Sat Mar 18: Kimberly Hawkey : Elvanelle & The Escape Act

Sun Mar 19: Russ Kassoff Trio With Vocalist Catherine Dupuis

Maureen’s Jazz Cellar is located at 2 N. Broadway in Nyack.

Brianne Higgins and David Budway opened Nyack’s only jazz club last summer. It’s easy to lose yourself in this warm intimate atmosphere where the boundary between artist and audience almost doesn’t exist.

Maureen’s Jazz Cellar is a testament to Maureen Budway, David Budway’s late sister. Maureen and David had a lot in common: both attended Duquesne University and were passionate, talented, crazy musicians. “She could sing anything,” Budway told Dan Cohen in his November 2016 review of the club. “Classical, pop, jazz, Sinatra, blues, you name it.” When Maureen passed away in 2014, she was a Professor of Voice at Duquesne University. Her spirit presides over the place from her portrait on the wall to the right when you walk in. Serene, calm, surprising, fun, Maureen’s is both a world away and a perfect complement to the bawdy fare down Main Street. Keep your eyes open. She might wink as you shuffle out, and her smile might seem to say, “Isn’t this a perfect room?”

Michael Hays is a 30-year resident of the Nyacks. He grew up the son of a professor and nurse in Champaign, Illinois. He has recently retired from a long career in educational publishing with Prentice-Hall and McGraw-Hill. He is an avid cyclist, amateur historian and photographer, gardener, and dog walker. He has enjoyed more years than he cares to count with his beautiful companion, Bernie Richey.

Nyack People & Places features photos and profiles of citizens and scenes near Nyack, NY. Sponsored by Weld Realty.

Photo Credit: Mike Hays

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