Whiskey Trip: Jimmy Can't Dance in Louisville

My FOMO meter shattered last week.  During my first full day in Louisville, Kentucky, I discovered that Ira Sullivan had performed at a new jazz club the previous night.

Missing the octogenarian didn’t prevent me from visiting Jimmy Can’t Dance that evening.  The basement venue beneath a downtown sandwich shop has a capacity of about 75.  The layout is much like Smalls in New York City and the Green Lady Lounge in Kansas City.

I spoke to Dennie Humphrey, a partner in Jimmy Can’t Dance, during a break in a jam session that featured faculty and students from the University of Louisville.  He has high hopes for the room.  Humphrey believes his connections to prominent area musicians including Jim James of My Morning Jacket will make Jimmy Can’t Dance a fashionable late-night destination for young revelers.

Jimmy Can’t Dance didn’t need any outside help last Wednesday.  The room was packed with tourists, young professionals and members of the service industry unwinding after work.  Representatives of each group were eager to sip bourbon and bask in the inviting atmosphere of Louisville’s only jazz club.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)