Jazz nightspot Dizzy’s is on the move once again. Beginning in 2012, owner Chuck Perrin promoted four years of concerts in the showroom at San Diego Jet Ski Rentals (4275 Mission Bay Drive) in Pacific Beach, but with the recent sale of the building, he will now be moving performances to the 200-capacity Arias Hall at the Musician’s Association (1717 Morena Blvd.). The last scheduled concert at the current site will be a Latin jazz presentation with Black Mambo on Saturday, Nov 19.
Arias Hall is the fourth home for Dizzy’s since Perrin founded it at the Culy Trucking Warehouse downtown in 2000. He stayed there for seven years before next finding a home at the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center in the Harbor Towers, from November 2007 to January 2012. After four concerts in temporary locations, 98 Bottles, McCrea Music, Tango Del Rey, and the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town, he found the Jet Ski Rentals building. While he would prefer to stay put, Perrin is just happy to be able to continue to showcase music. He feels Arias Hall will be a good fit. “Seems like it could be a good home, with the venue focused only on music, like I like,” he said. “They’ve allowed me to schedule six shows there Nov. 15 thru Dec. 17 to test out the relationship.” He points out that he doesn’t book shows to fill slots. “I try to only schedule events that excite me personally, where I sense that the performers have a passion for what they are doing,” Perrin said. The first scheduled shows at the new location include The SDSCPA Jazz Ensemble (Nov. 15), guitarists Fred Benedetti and George Svoboda (Nov. 18) and pianist Joshua White (Nov. 26).
Acclaimed pianist Danny Green, who has performed at Dizzy’s often, is happy the venue will continue. “It’s been integral to the local jazz scene in San Diego for so many years,” he said. “It’s a place where audiences can expect to hear top quality jazz all the time and jazz musicians can feel comfortable showcasing their latest material.”
In addition to running Dizzy’s, Perrin recently released a 23-track digital-only album of rarities, “Rare and Unreleased,” which he recorded with his sister from the mid 1960s through the early 1970s. The pair’s lone, self-titled, 1968 album is considered highly collectable by folk fans, with copies having sold for as much as $800. It was reissued in 2015 by Mapache records of Spain.
“It was bittersweet going through the old songs,” he said. “Much of my early recording was done with my sister Mary, who passed away in 2003.” He would like to see both a vinyl and CD issue of these tracks. “But I’m just not sure where to go to make that happen. Releasing the material digitally at least allows me to make it accessible, to get it out there into people’s ears to see if there is any demand or interest.”
In the meantime, Perrin, who turned 70 earlier this year, hopes the new location for Dizzy’s will work out, with plans already in place to transform their room to accommodate the “Dizzy’s vibe.” “I’m blessed to be able to make the illusion of a place like Dizzy’s happen at all,” he said. “(A location) really is just a state of mind. I’ve long ago accepted that its operation is day-to-day and it could all end at any moment. Kind of like life.”
For more information, visit www.dizzysjazz.com.