Iridium Jazz Club

About Iridium Jazz Club

Iridium Jazz Club is a 180-capacity, ticketed listening room in Midtown Manhattan, built for close-range jazz, blues, and guitar-driven rock. Its defining detail is the Les Paul connection: the guitar innovator’s Monday residency ran from 1996 until his death in 2009, helping shape a venue that also operates as a live-recording studio and label. Expect dinner-table seating, a compact stage, and a concert format that puts performers directly in front of the room.

A basement start, then a Les Paul home

The club opened in 1994 under owner Ron Sturm, beginning as the Iridium Room Jazz Club in the basement of the Empire Hotel near Lincoln Center. Its early purpose paired emerging mainstream-jazz players with established names; by August 2001, Iridium had moved to its current Broadway and 51st Street space, where a larger stage, recording studio, upgraded acoustics, and lighting gave the room a different scale.

Les Paul supplied the central chapter. He began his Monday engagement in 1996 and held court for 13 years, carrying the residency through the move. On April 23, 2001, Paul McCartney joined Paul on the Iridium stage; the club’s own history also records later appearances with Slash, Billy Gibbons, Chet Atkins, and Dickey Betts. Paul’s 2009 death led Sturm to continue Monday guitar programming in his memory.

The room today

Iridium’s booking reaches beyond its jazz base: blues, rock guitar, R&B, folk, indie pop, alt-rock, cabaret, and world music all figure in its stated programming, alongside emerging performers and established instrumentalists. Most nights carry one show. Every ticket holder gets a table and access to the full kitchen and bar; preferred seats occupy the floor nearest the stage and the mezzanine railing. The 2015 stage-and-sound upgrade reinforces its audiophile focus, while the 180-person overall capacity and 150-seat event layout keep sightlines and performer-audience distance tight.

Sources

1. The Iridium | About — The Iridium
2. Iridium Club Moves to New Location — JazzTimes
3. Les Paul: Chasing Sound — PBS American Masters
4. The Iridium | FAQ — The Iridium