We are thrilled to announce that beginning April 6, 2026, Kissa Kissa is partnering with Verve Records for a year-long weekly listening event series celebrating the legendary label’s 70th anniversary. Every Monday night through December 28, a different Verve reissue becomes the evening’s centerpiece — played on vinyl, through our audiophile hi-fi system, in a room built for exactly this kind of listening.
Verve was founded in 1956 by producer Norman Granz to showcase the talents of Ella Fitzgerald, and the catalog grew to include some of the most celebrated names in jazz history — Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Billie Holiday, and dozens more. For 2026, Verve is marking the milestone with an extensive reissue program spanning the Verve Vault, Acoustic Sounds, and Record Club series — and Kissa Kissa is the place to hear them.
How Verve Mondays Works
Every Monday night, Kissa Kissa becomes the premier listening destination for a Verve reissue. Each week spotlights one title from the label’s 2026 catalog — announced in advance, with the featured album serving as the evening’s musical centerpiece.
But Verve Mondays is not just one record. The featured album anchors a complementary program built around it: other titles by the same label, by the same artist, and by the sidemen on that record — curated the way only a jazz kissa can. If you are hearing Oscar Peterson’s trio for the first time that evening, you will leave having also heard the records that influenced and surrounded that session — all from our library of more than 5,000 LPs.
The series spans 39 Mondays and 39 reissues, running from April through December. The catalog covers an extraordinary range — from hard bop to bossa nova, from vocal jazz to the avant-garde — and includes both beloved classics and titles that deserve a much wider audience.
The Verve 70
Every partnership deserves its own drink. The Verve 70 is a Verve Mondays-only signature cocktail — a riff on the classic French 75, reimagined for the kissa:
housemade sage lavender syrup · lemon
Named for Verve’s 70th anniversary, the Verve 70 is only available on Monday nights — all year long. Pair it with our full menu and the evening’s featured record for the complete experience.
The Verve 70 — available exclusively on Monday nights.
The Opening Month
The series launches with four remarkable records — including a world premiere of previously unheard recordings and a landmark mono reissue of one of the greatest jazz albums ever recorded.
The hard bop titan and his Jazz Messengers kick off Verve Mondays with a rare Verve Vault title. Blakey’s explosive drumming and ear for talent made the Messengers one of jazz’s most important institutions — a band whose 1958 track “Moanin'” helped ignite the jazz kissa renaissance in Japan.
A world premiere. Recorded in August 1960 at Detroit’s legendary Baker’s Keyboard Lounge — the longest continuously operating jazz club in the United States — these performances by the Oscar Peterson Trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen were intended as a live album but never released. Discovered decades later in a mislabeled box in the Verve vaults, the tapes capture one of jazz’s greatest trios at the absolute peak of their powers.
The alto saxophonist whose blues-drenched soul jazz made him one of the most popular musicians in jazz. Adderley’s playing on Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue cemented his place in history, and his own recordings for a range of labels showcased a voice that was unmistakably his.
We close the opening month with one of the most important recordings in all of music. A Love Supreme — Coltrane’s magnum opus, recorded in a single evening session on December 9, 1964 at Van Gelder Studio with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. This mono reissue, the first ever on vinyl, is part of the Coltrane 100 centennial celebration. Faithfully mastered from the original analog tapes, the mono mix is immediate, intense, and unforgettable. There is no better way to hear it than in a room full of people, on vinyl, with nothing between you and the music.
John Coltrane. (Photo: Chuck Stewart Photography LLC / Fireball Entertainment)
What to Expect on a Verve Monday
Each Verve Monday evening is an immersive experience anchored by that week’s featured reissue. The record is played in full through our custom-built system — Technics SL-1200GR turntables, ModWright tube amplification, Harbeth speakers — in a room designed for the kind of attentive, communal listening that defines the jazz kissa tradition.
Around the featured title, we build a full evening of contextual programming — music by the same artist, their collaborators, and the label itself. The Verve 70 cocktail is available exclusively on Monday nights. And the records being reissued are physically in the room — you can see the cover, read the liner notes, and hear the music the way it was meant to be experienced.
No cover charge. No reservations required for Verve Mondays — just walk in. If you are new to Kissa Kissa, our guide to visiting a vinyl listening bar will tell you everything you need to know.
39 Records, 39 Stories
After April, the series continues through December with titles spanning the full breadth of Verve’s remarkable catalog — bossa nova, vocal jazz, organ jazz, big band, spiritual jazz, and more. Each month’s lineup will be announced here and on our Instagram in advance, and every featured album will get its own dedicated blog post with liner-note-style context on the record’s history, the session musicians, and why it matters.
We will be sharing the full calendar soon. For now, what we can say is this: the 2026 reissue program includes a newly discovered live recording that has never been heard, landmark titles from the Acoustic Sounds audiophile series, deep cuts from the Verve Vault, and titles in the Coltrane 100 centennial series. It is one of the most exciting programs a jazz listening bar has ever hosted.
Follow us on Instagram for weekly announcements, and sign up for The It Club — our occasional email with first access to events and special insider treats — via the QR code on our menu.
Verve Mondays Begin April 6th and Run Through All of 2026
Every Monday · 667 Franklin Avenue · Crown Heights, Brooklyn
No cover. No reservations required but always encouraged.
