{"id":5259,"date":"2024-05-22T13:15:19","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T13:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/?p=5259"},"modified":"2025-07-27T16:07:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T16:07:34","slug":"march-20th-tribute-cobi-narita-st-peters-church-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/march-20th-tribute-cobi-narita-st-peters-church-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"March 20th – Tribute to Cobi Narita \/ St Peter’s Church (New York)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A true honor for ZULY and myself to be flown to New York by Cobi Narita’s family to honor her life achievements!<\/h3>\n

Watch our tribute to Cobi : <\/em>
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Cobi Narita, Tireless Jazz Promoter and Benefactor, Dies at 97<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

She produced concerts, helped musicians find work and started a women\u2019s jazz festival. \u201cJazz in New York would not have been the same without Cobi,\u201d one musician said.<\/p>\n

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Cobi Narita in 1993 during a jazz tribute at Saint Peter\u2019s Church in Midtown Manhattan. \u201cHer affect was low-key, but she had charisma and a gravitational field around her,\u201d an associate said.\u00a0<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Rachel Cobb<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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By\u00a0<\/span>Richard Sandomir<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Cobi Narita, an indefatigable jazz impresario who for more than 40 years in New York City produced concerts, celebrated female artists in an annual festival and ran performance spaces, died on Nov. 8 in Los Angeles. She was 97.<\/p>\n

Her death, at the home of a granddaughter, was confirmed by her son Robert Narita.<\/p>\n

Ms. Narita \u2014 who grew up in California, spent most of World War II with her family in an Arizona internment camp for Japanese Americans, and moved to New York in her early 40s \u2014 was a unifying force in local jazz circles.<\/p>\n

\u201cJazz in New York would not have been the same without Cobi,\u201d the saxophonist\u00a0Jimmy Heath<\/a>\u00a0told the website\u00a0All About Jazz in 2006.<\/a><\/p>\n

Loren Schoenberg,<\/a>\u00a0the founding director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, called Ms. Narita a respected benefactor who provided much-needed opportunities for performers in New York \u2014 a role that was later more formally adopted, at least in part, by Jazz at Lincoln Center.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cShe started at a time when there was no organized world of jazz institutions to give financial aid to musicians,\u201d Mr. Schoenberg said by phone. \u201cEverybody was out in the ocean doing their own little projects. But Cobi had all these things going, and she handed out money to support people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cHer affect was low-key, but she had charisma and a gravitational field around her.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1976, Ms. Narita started the nonprofit Universal Jazz Coalition, an umbrella organization that for about 10 years helped musicians manage their careers, promoted and produced concerts, and distributed a newsletter about local jazz events.<\/p>\n

Seven years later, she opened the Jazz Center of New York in a rented loft in Lower Manhattan, on Lafayette Street, where famous musicians like Dizzy Gillespie as well as up-and-comers performed. In 2002, she opened Cobi\u2019s Place, on West 48th Street near Seventh Avenue, as a venue for singers, instrumentalists and dancers.<\/p>\n

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How The Times decides who gets an obituary.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0There is no formula, scoring system or checklist in determining the news value of a life. We investigate, research and ask around before settling on our subjects. If you know of someone who might be a candidate for a Times obituary,\u00a0please suggest it here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn more about our process.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Cobi\u2019s Place stayed in business for about a decade. The Jazz Center of New York closed recently but she had retired during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Ms. Narita produced concerts and performances by, among others, the singers\u00a0Abbey Lincoln<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Dakota Staton<\/a>, the saxophonist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWithout producers like Cobi,\u201d Ms. Lincoln told The Daily News of New York in 1993, \u201cmusicians like me would have a hard time having careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1978, Ms. Narita organized the four-day Salute to Women in Jazz, which was renamed the New York Women\u2019s Jazz Festival the next year and ran for more than 10 years. The event was held at the disco Casablanca 2, on the original site of the jazz club Birdland, on Broadway between 52nd and 53rd Streets. The event made news when Robert Tirado, the disco\u2019s owner, abruptly increased the rent after two successful nights. Ms. Narita could not meet his demand, and he locked the festival out.<\/p>\n

Ms. Narita quickly regrouped. The musicians played outdoors near the club for the third and fourth nights, using electricity from a nearby parking lot, instruments and a public address system from the\u00a0Sam Ash Musical Instruments<\/a>\u00a0store a few blocks away, and chairs from the Roseland Ballroom. The pianist\u00a0Mary Lou Williams<\/a>\u00a0and the singer\u00a0Helen Merrill<\/a>\u00a0were among those who performed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA thousand people had to have lined up on the street,\u201d Ms. Narita told All About Jazz. \u201cIt was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Wein<\/a>, the producer of the Newport Jazz Festival, happened to be walking by and was stunned when he came upon the unscheduled street concert. He paid for Ms. Narita to use Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall) for a bonus fifth night.<\/p>\n

Ms. Narita\u2019s financial backer in most of her ventures was Paul Ash, whose family owns the Sam Ash chain of musical instrument stores; Cobi\u2019s Place was located above Manny\u2019s Music, which was owned by Sam Ash. Ms. Narita and Mr. Ash met in 1973 and married in 1989.\u00a0He died in 2014.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n