Ball & Chain kicks off new album series

Since its opening in 1935, Ball & Chain has hosted jazz legends like Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Chet Baker. Eighty years later, the Little Havana bar and lounge celebrates its rich jazz roots with the launch of a new album series geared toward supporting the artists that frequent the club.

The first album in the series features the Nick Tannura Trio, which enjoys a weekly Thursday, Friday and Saturday night residency at the club. The trio’s frontman, Miami-by-way-of-Chicago artist Nick Tannura, is a graduate of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and an active player in the city’s music scene across a wide spectrum of genres. Titled ‘The Nick Tannura Trio Live at The Ball & Chain’, this album represents a return to the jazz sound that colored early- and mid-century Miami.

“The three of us developed this really great musical rapport while doing all these gigs at Ball & Chain and I really wanted to capture it. For us, a live record at Ball & Chain was obviously the perfect way to do it,” said Tannura, who maintained the venue was ideal for recording an album both in terms of acoustics and the crowd’s energy. “I’m really happy with the way the group sounds on the record and plan to use this recording as a springboard for bigger and better things for jazz at Ball and Chain,” he added.

Accompanied by a live performance, the debut album launch party will take place Thursday, April 23 from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. The event is free and open to the public; patrons must be 21+.