Parker Jazz Club

Parker Jazz Club started with a basement and a dream—and of course, award-winning jazz vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Kris Kimura

Kris Kimura is an Austin-based woodwind specialist, vocalist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and jazz club owner. He studied music at the University of North Texas and Texas State University, and is the protégé of late woodwind master Tony Campise. For more than two decades, in addition to leading his own groups, Kris has been a staple in the Central Texas scene.

In early 2018, Kris opened the doors to Parker Jazz Club, a world-class basement lounge clearly designed by a musician—for musicians. “There are rooms that cater to music and musicians. However, very few rooms are designed and literally BUILT for it,” says acclaimed Austin musician Alex Marrero. “Every microphone, cable, speaker, wire, baffle, table, and chair has been meticulously hand chosen for the purpose of serving the music. I have never seen anything like it in town for a room of that size. The reason is because it didn’t exist until Parker Jazz Club opened its doors.”

Parker Jazz Club—named after Kris’s son Parker—has since hosted phenomenal local, national, and international acts, including Doug Lawrence, Louis Hayes, Butch Miles, John Webber, Kris Johnson, Nestor Torres, Tom Scott, Herlin Riley, Eric Reed, and many others. “I don’t think I’ve ever known a musician to be so hands-on in opening a club,” says Lawrence, featured tenor saxophone soloist with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra.

Indeed, immaculate sound design, an electric stage curtain, a hi-fi video streaming studio, a comfy greenroom, incredible house gear, and a large framed photo of Kimura's late local mentor Tony Campise all speak to a new business that doesn't feel as much like a concept as it does somebody's dream. Austin Chronicle, February 2018

“I wanted something you would see if you went to New York and spent an evening at Dizzy’s Club, or went to London and visited Ronnie Scott’s, or went to Paris — a truly timeless, world-class venue,” says Kris. “But also, it couldn’t be too stuffy because this is Austin. People in Austin are cool. We wanted to kind of mix that high-end thing with this hip, distinctly Austin thing, and I feel like we’ve hit the mark.”