A Black-owned jazz club in Williamsburg has been entertaining the community for more than 40 years with its unique sounds. Gary Eastman, the owner of the Williamsburg Music Center tucked in a corner on Bedford Avenue, tells News 12 he built the establishment the ground up, and it’s a space like no other.
“This place has a history of being the home that many of the most prestigious Black artist in the world have come through here. What I offer is that people can come see the best of the best here,” says Eastman.
Inside the building built up over the last four decades, visitors can find his living room transformed into a performance space full of rhythm, jazz and history.
Eastman came to Brooklyn from upstate New York in the 1970s with the mission to open a nonprofit focused on fostering young Black talent.
When you walk into WMC, you step away from the sounds of the city an into a musical oasis. Eastman says his joint is a full-on television recording studio
“What I offer is a place for young artists to come and they don’t have to drag their amplifiers and drums and pianos and all that equipment to play a gig,” Eastman says.