ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — There’s a new scene in uptown, where “the music is the thing.” Babydoll’s House of Jazz & Blues just recently opened its doors in Park Square Market. They’re hoping to offer up a sophisticated night out for Duke City locals, while also planting seeds for the next generation of jazz.
And for the owner, Tracey Whitney, it all started with a voice. “A voice woke me up in the middle of the night. And said, ‘you have to move to Albuquerque.’ It literally woke me up with that,” Whitney explained. “And I sat up in bed and I’m like, what the hell? And it said it again, and while I was fully awake. So, then I’m like, I’m not moving to Albuquerque from L.A. Who would do that? But it just wouldn’t stop… And so, here I am.”
With that voice guiding the way, Whitney packed up and moved to Albuquerque back in 2012, all with the vision of her own jazz club in mind. Cut to today, and that vision has come to life. As for the reception so far? Babydoll’s is already having to turn people away at the door, Whitney says. And to her surprise, many of the people showing interest are younger than you may expect. “I’m like, where are these babies coming from? How do you know about this? And every week I say, how did you find us? And they all say, TikTok. Instagram,” Whitney tells us.
When we asked Whitney for advice on attending one’s first jazz performance, this is what she told us. “Well, I want them to know they’re coming into an adult experience. You know, the whole thing is we want this to be a place where you can come relax, listen to some really good music, have a cocktail… It’s very sophisticated. And I will say that, I mean, where else is there like this in New Mexico?” Whitney mused.
Whitney should know, given how deep her roots in jazz run. Raised in a family of vocalists, she started her own journey with singing at age 11. “My mom was a singer, my dad was a singer, they had eight kids, we all came out singing,” said Whitney. “One day my mom’s upstairs rehearsing with her brother and sister, they had a group. And we were downstairs, we had our own group, me and my brothers. And my mom hears us downstairs singing and she’s like, ‘are those my kids?’ And the next thing you know, we were on stage.” Since then, she’s collected a number of accolades…