Music of New York City

The music of New York City is a diverse and important field in the world of music; no American city has as central a place in music history as New York City. It has long been a thriving home for jazz, rock and the blues, and is the birthplace of salsa and hip hop. The city's culture, a melting pot of nations from around the world, has produced vital folk music scenes like Irish-American music and Jewish klezmer. Beginning with the rise of popular sheet music in the early 20th century, New York's Broadway musical theater and Tin Pan Alley's songcraft, New York has been a major part of the American music industry.

Music author Richie Unterberger has described the New York music scene, and the city itself, as "(i)mmense, richly diverse, flashy, polyethnic, and engaged in a never-ending race for artistic and cosmopolitan supremacy". Despite the city's historic importance in the development of American music, there are those who feel that its status has declined in recent year, due to a combination of increased corporate control over music media, an increase in the cost-of-living and the rise of local music scenes whose success is facilitated by the cheap communication provided by the Internet.

New York has been the center for the American music industry since the earliest phonograph records in the early 20th century. Since then, a number of companies and organizations have set up headquarters in New York, from the Tin Pan Alley publishers and Broadway to modern independent rock and hip hop labels, non-profit organizations and others. Many music magazines are headquartered in New York, including Blender Magazine, Punk Magazine, Spin and Rolling Stone.

Carnegie Hall is one of the most important music venues in the world, especially for classical music; the Hall is noted for its excellent acoustics. The venue was named for philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, but fell into disrepair in the 20th century until being renovated between 1983 and 1995. Radio City Music Hall was also a major venue after opening 1932, and was also recently renovated; it is now a significant architectural attraction as an example of the Art Deco style.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, located in New York , is the largest performing arts center in the world and the Center is home to twelve resident organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, Julliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. The New York Philharmonic, which performs at Avery Fisher Hall, is the oldest orchestra in the United States, founded in 1842. As of 2005, Lorin Maazel is the conductor. The Philharmonic has made more than 500 recordings since 1917, and was one of the first to broadcast live performances, beginning in 1922. The New York Philharmonic produced celebrated composers like George Bristow and Theodore Thomas; Bristow was a fiercely nationalistic composer who left the Philharmonic because he felt it did not glorify American music adequately, a situation he, and later Thomas, attempted to rectify.

Other institutions and organizations in New York include the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City Ballet and the Jazz Foundation of America. The Apollo Theater has long been a place for African American performers to begin their careers; it has such an iconic status that Congress has declared it a national landmark. The New York club scene is an important part of the city's music scene, birthplace to many styles of music from disco to punk rock; some of these clubs, like Studio 54, Max's Kansas City, Mercer Arts Center and CBGB's have reached an iconic status across the United States. New York is home to several major jazz clubs, including Birdland, Sweet Basil, Village Vanguard and Blue Note, the latter being one of the premier spots for jazz lovers. The Greenwich Village folk scene is home to venues like the long-standing landmark The Bottom Line. New York's rock scene includes clubs like Irving Plaza and Maxwell's, while the city's avant-gard "downtown" scene includes The Kitchen, Roulette and Knitting Factory. The Latin and world music scene features venues like S.O.B.'s and the Wetlands Preserve. Articles on music courtesy of Wikipedia