Jazz musicians say there are two steady gigs in Columbia, SC

Since the pandemic, The Aristocrat had been a reliable home base for jazz musicians all over the region. Its concert calendar featured key local players like trumpeter Mark Rapp, saxophonist Robert Gardiner and trombonist Mitch Butler, all of whom are lynchpins of the Columbia jazz scene.

It closed this summer, the loss of its Thursday and Friday jazz nights leaving a gap in regular jazz gigs for musicians to find around town.

Its closure leaves only a couple of spots for straight-ahead jazz in Columbia — The Joint and Hall’s Chophouse, both on Main Street. West Columbia’s Chayz Lounge plays smooth jazz in an elevated setting, “but there are very few venues willing to regularly present the tradition of straight-ahead jazz shaped by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Dexter G