MOHAMED FARGHALY
mfarghaly@queensledger.com
Flushing Town Hall will launch a new interactive website on September 5 for its beloved Queens Jazz Trail Map, making the long-celebrated guide to the borough’s rich jazz history widely accessible for the first time in digital form. The unveiling coincides with the final concert in the Queens Jazz Trail Concert Series, featuring a performance by the George Gee Swing Orchestra at Astoria Park, free to the public.
The Queens Jazz Trail Map, originally printed in 1998, lists over 125 notable jazz artists and landmarks throughout Queens, including the Louis Armstrong House Museum and Flushing Town Hall itself—a Smithsonian affiliate and renowned venue for jazz concerts. The map has served as a vital resource for jazz scholars, fans, and tourists, detailing the lives and contributions of jazz legends such as Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie, who once called Queens their home.
Ellen Kodadek, Flushing Town Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director emphasized the significance of the map’s digital launch.
“Queens has been called the home of jazz because so many jazz legends lived and worked in Queens over many, many decades,” Kodadek said. “This is the first ever digital map, so we’re really excited about that.”
The new website, designed by Urban Archive with funding from the Queens Economic Development Corporation/Queens Tourism Council, is the first phase of a dynamic resource that will evolve with additional content and interactive features. Users can explore detailed information about jazz artists and venues by clicking on various points on the map and contributing their own stories and media, which Flushing Town Hall will review and potentially publish.
“Members of the community, if they have something to add, if they have any video footage or audio footage or fun anecdotes, they’re more than welcome to email them to us,” Kodadek said.
Seth Bornstein, Executive Director of the Queens Economic Development Corporation, highlighted the map’s potential to draw visitors to Queens.
“The launch of a digital Queens Jazz Trail Map will inspire greater visitorship to Queens, a borough rich in musical history and home to a diverse and thriving cultural scene today,” Bornstein said. “I encourage map followers to come for the jazz, delight in our history, and discover all else that Queens has on offer, including beautiful parks and restaurants serving up authentic cuisines from around the world. You name it, it’s in Queens—the world’s borough!”
The interactive digital map will go live on September 5, the same day as the final concert of the Queens Jazz Trail Concert Series, a collaboration between Flushing Town Hall, the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College, and the Louis Armstrong House Museum, in partnership with NYC Parks. The concert, featuring the George Gee Swing Orchestra, will take place at 6 PM in Astoria Park.
“September 5 is also the final jazz concert of the series that was started this summer in the parks. It’s called the Queens Jazz Trail Concert Series, and it’s a free public performance by the George G Swing Orchestra,” Kodadek said.
The digital map and details about Flushing Town Hall’s programs and events will be available online at the Flushing Town Hall’s website, flushingtownhall.org. The printed version of the Queens Jazz Trail Map is available for purchase at Flushing Town Hall’s Gift Shop. To contact the box office, call (718) 463-7700 x 222, email boxoffice@flushingtownhall.org, or visit Flushing Town Hall at 137-35 Northern Boulevard in Queens.
“First printed in 1998, the original Queens Jazz Trail map had become the stuff of lore—possessed by few, coveted by many,” Kodadek said. “We are thrilled to be selling it again in our Gift Shop and especially excited for its new digital release, which makes it widely available to be used and enjoyed by all for many years to come. We hope that people in Queens will be really proud of the fact that Queens has this extraordinary jazz legacy and history. Also, that it will inform tourists about this incredible jazz legacy.”
