Queens Jazz & Immigrant Rhythms

About This Tour

Queens has been a home for jazz and for new arrivals, and this tour follows both threads through the places where musicians lived, played and gathered. In Corona, Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie lived around the corner from each other, in a neighborhood that welcomed Black residents when many parts of Queens did not. The park that hosted two World's Fairs also hosted Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Armstrong himself. In a garden-apartment neighborhood to the west, a 1965 law brought new residents from Latin America and South Asia. And in Flushing, a town hall built in 1862 now presents jazz and keeps the Queens Jazz Trail Map. Several stops are private homes or active places of worship, so view them from the sidewalk and be respectful of the people who live and worship there. You can pick a short, medium or long route and pause and resume whenever you like. There is no driving; the tour is on foot, with the 7 train an easy way to link the neighborhoods.

Tour Highlights

Tour Route & Stops