The Artists' Quarter (a.k.a. the AQ) is a well known musician owned and operated jazz club in Twin Cities. The club opened in the early 1970s in South Minneapolis, Minnesota and moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1995. The club is in the basement of the historic Hamm Building in downtown St. Paul.
The club features both local and touring musicians. Many famous musicians have and continue to play at the AQ on tour, including Roy Haynes, Mose Allison, Joey DeFrancesco, Sweets Edison, Lew Tabackin, Eric Alexander, Jack McDuff, Dewey Redman, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson and others. Roy Haynes, Bill Carrothers, Dean Granros, David Hazeltine and Lee Konitz have all recorded live Albums at the Artists' Quarter. The club was voted one of the top 100 jazz clubs in the world in 2009 by Down Beat magazine,[1]
Additionally, the AQ hosts the Soapboxing Poetry Slam, home of the 2009 National Poetry Slam Championship Team.
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Roy Haynes earned a Grammy nomination for his drum solo, “Hippidy Hop”, from the live album, ‘Whereas’ recorded at the club over the weekend of January 20, 2006, (which Chris Coleman, mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, officially proclaimed as the “Roy Haynes Weekend”. )