The Bahamas’ largest resort Baha Mar has been on a mission to wrap local arts and culture into guest experiences—and on Friday it debuted its first celebrity partnership towards that effort with the opening of Jon Batiste’s Jazz Club at Baha Mar.
“If you go to a club in the Bahamas, it should feel like it,” the 38-year-old Grammy and Oscar winner tells Condé NastTraveler. “There's so much culture that gets buried under tourism, and the culture…[is] too strong to die—it's too potent, it's too real."
Jon Batiste’s Jazz Club will host a mix of Batiste’s favorite local Bahamian artists and international acts.
Despite hailing from New Orleans—where he’ll sing the national anthem at his hometown Super Bowl on February 9, 2025—Batiste says he has long been influenced by Bahamian sounds, via his exposure as a touring musician, and then through fostering that connection with Bahamian trumpeter Giveton Gelin who he calls an “anchor” of the club’s development, and who will help curate its lineup of local and international musicians.
Carving out space in the heart of the resort's casino, the 12,900-square-foot club's interiors pay homage to historic Bahamian clubs from the 1940s and 50s like The Cat and the Fiddle, The Buena Vista Club, The Banana Boat, and The Silver Slipper that created space for Black musicians at a time when they weren't allowed to play in hotels—and guests had to go off-property to experience both local talent and international stars like Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong, and Nina Simone.
The decor of the club pays tribute to historic Bahamian venues like the Buena Vista Club and Banana Boat that hosted the likes of Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong, and Nina Simone.
“It’s about being hyper specific about things,” the resort’s executive director of arts and culture John Cox says of the decor. “You don't want to knock people over the head—it's not an academic space—but if you present things in a compelling way, it's going to spark conversation.”
The club's opening night drew a celebrity crowd, including comedian Jon Stewart and football legend Emmitt Smith, as well as special guest Joanna “Jojo” Levesque, who sang with Batiste for the first time. Batiste, who released his eighth studio album Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1), in November, set the tone as he worked the room from a secondary stage to the side.
The partnership with Batiste is the latest in a host of celebrity tie-ups for the resort—earlier ventures include the John McEnroe Tennis Center, which opened last month, the T-Squared Cigar Bar started in partnership with Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods, as well as restaurants with chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Daniel Boulud, Danny Elmaleh, and butcher Dario Cecchini. It also
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