Jazz

Ella in the ear, Mexico in the glass and Gulda in the pajamas.

Blaue Gans tenant Adi Jüstel was a jazz-loving waiter who wanted to realize his dream of owning his own jazz bar in the dilapidated basement of the Blaue Gans in 1972. What followed is still a myth today: The Mexicano Cellar, so-called because of its affinity with Mexico, would become the hottest jazz club in the city and beyond, and not just because of its fiery dishes.

A booster for the cellar’s popularity was the Ella Fitzgerald concert that Adi Jüstel was able to organize in 1977 in the Sacred Classic Halls of the Great Festival Hall, but only with the help of the ruse that sacred music would be performed in the form of spirituals. After the show, of course, we went to the party Mexicano cellar, from which stories of wild nights are still told to this day.