The company behind the famous New York jazz club is launching a music travel division.
Blue Note Entertainment Group is offering cultural trips to Cuba, a destination normally off-limits to U.S. citizens, as part of its new travel venture. The packages include a weekend trip to Havana and a historical island tour, with an emphasis on musical and cultural hotspots.
Blue Note Travel is working with Cultural Island Travel, an agency that has been taking Americans to the island for over 15 years under regulations that stipulate trips must be for cultural rather than tourism purposes. If a tour itinerary includes visits to hear bands in Cuban clubs, for instance, the tours can squeeze by those regulations, which are still in effect.
The launch also follows recent diplomatic progress between the U.S. and Cuba, with the Caribbean island set to be taken off the U.S. list of terrorist countries soon. Last year Blue Note also opened another club in Manhattan, Subrosa, dedicated to Latin and world music.
The company, which runs New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club, B.B. King’s and the Highline Ballroom (it’s not affiliated with Blue Note Records), is expected to announce tours to other music travel destinations later this year. [via Billboard]