Trading eights with Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill, one of Montreal’s greatest jazz clubs

As MC Escher said: “Only those who will attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible. I think it’s in my basement…let me go check upstairs.”

Back in 1995, Joel Giberovitch first attempted the absurd by buying into a hangout where Concordia students played backgammon and speed chess. Then he achieved the impossible by transforming it into one of Montreal’s most recognized surviving jazz clubs: Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill.

Maiden Voyage

“I was working at my father’s Mexican restaurant, El Coyote, and Upstairs was looking for a new business partner,” Joel explains. “They approached my father, and hewasn’t really interested. He asked me if I wanted to get involved. I was barely 23 years old. I was green. I figured, ‘sure, why not?’ That’s how we got our foot in the door.”