Albany New York Festivals, Events & Jazz Clubs

NY State Capital City on Hudson River has Hip Lark Street Night Life

Aug 27, 2008

Old city charm, fun nightlife, music and tulip festivals, live jazz and urban cool on hip Lark Street make New York's state capital, Albany NY, a great place to visit.

This charming capital city on the Hudson River is located midway between New York City and Montreal in what is called upstate New York. A train ride to Albany on the scenic Amtrak Adirondack Route from either New York City or Montreal provides breathtaking views along the shores of Lake Champlain traveling south from Montreal, or views of the Hudson River when traveling north from New York City .

Historic Neighborhoods & Hip Lark Street

Albany is a city in the process of renewal and historic preservation. Much of the historic preservation can be seen in the neighborhoods around and below Washington Park between Washington and Madison Avenues and Lark Street and South Swan Street. Some brownstones and brick row houses built in the mid-1800s to early 1900s are being maintained and restored. There is a real sense of community that is visible...flowers bloom in small urban gardens and around the base of trees that line the narrow streets. Community gardens have sprung up in vacant lots through the Capital District Community Garden program which oversees 48 community gardens in the Capital District.

Albany Tulip Festival & Empire State Plaza

Spring, summer and early fall are some of the best times to visit Albany. The annual Tulip Festival in Washington Park (between Madison Avenue, Washington Avenue, N. Lake Street and Willet Street) is held over Mother's Day weekend in mid-May with thousands of tulips in bloom in conjunction with a weekend festival of food and music. Throughout the summer, beautifully maintained flower beds and hanging baskets adorn the park and city and are reminiscent of old world European charm.

There are also multiple outdoor concerts scheduled throughout the summer and into early fall at a variety of venues:

Albany Riverfront Jazz Festival and other Live Jazz Performances

Jazz fanatics will be ecstatic to find that jazz lives in Albany at two great locations, one on hip Lark Street and another just around the corner on Madison Ave. At Justin's on Lark at 301 Lark Street, a long-time jazz venue, you can find live jazz all year round, four nights a week, and twice on Sunday...real jazz which sometimes features musicians who've come upstate from NYC to jam with the scheduled band. This is not just background music...it's be-bop or straight ahead jazz...and they do have a delightful and eclectic menu including the best crab cakes on the east coast.

In early September, the annual Albany Riverfront Jazz Festival is held at the Albany Riverfront Park Ampitheater from noon - 7:30PM. The 2008 jazz festival featured:

As if that isn't enough, on the first Tuesday of each month, many local jazz musicians who perform at Justin's get together to form Keith Prays Big Soul Ensemble, a 17 piece jazz band at Tess' Lark Tavern at 453 Madison Ave. They play unconstrained John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and Miles Davis tunes as well as their own compositions in the Tavern's back room…can't get much better than that.

The copyright of the article Albany New York Festivals, Events & Jazz Clubs in New York Travel is owned by Barbara Shema. Permission to republish Albany New York Festivals, Events & Jazz Clubs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Aug 27, 2008 2:00 PM

Guest :

Sounds wonderful! It certainly deserves a visit. Thanks! Rita

Aug 30, 2008 6:10 PM

Guest :

As an “Upstate Expat” I was thrilled to be reminded via your well crafted article, of the vibrant cultural scene in the Albany NY area. Growing up in Schtdy, I of course had no concept or appreciation of it’s cultural attractions until I moved away and suddenly became exposed by comparison, to the limitations of numerous other, more crowded, more remote, more expensive, more heavily promoted, but less interesting locales. Not only is it a geographically beautiful area, but as you point out, it has rich cultural and artistic traditions.

Thanks for acquainting people with the fact that the Tri-Cities is a great place for a destination weekend. To hell with NYC, we are going to look into spending our Autumn in Albany this year!

Bob & Gail from Boston