But in Pittsburgh, trombonist Al Dowe and singer Etta Cox are rekindling the era of live music, dry martinis and good food in Dowe's on 9th. One area publication describes Dowe's as "cool, classy, and comfy—the perfect spot for the taste of smooth jazz. "A mural featuring local musical icons who chose to stay in Pittsburgh such as Kenny Blake, Roger Humphries and Dowe greets patrons at the door of the split-level jazz club at 121 9th Street in the heart of Pittsburgh's downtown Cultural District. Red brick walls and violet-hued steel girders surround plush, red couches and sleek black tables. The soft, indirect lighting, emphasizes the intimate feel of the club. And, in the words of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer John Hayes, "With two of it's three owners being trombonist Al Dowe and singer Etta Cox, it's no surprise that every inch of space is focused like a prism on the hardwood stage."

Another item that the two musicians made certain of is the quality of the sound system. One of the things that hits home as soon as the first set begins is that sound is a priority in Dowe's. The club's system, which uses exclusively BAG END Loudspeaker systems, was designed by prominent Pittsburgh sound engineer George Heid, with an assist from BAG END's head of engineering and design, Henry Heine.

The 1,200 square-foot club is on two levels, with an L-shaped mezzanine on two sides of the space, facing the stage. Heid took painstaking measurements and photographed every inch of the interior to help Heine design a system to effectively cover every inch of the space and provide as clear and true and accurate a sound system as possible.

A total of 16 BAG END loudspeaker systems provide ample signal for the room. Four TA5000 Time-Aligned speaker systems are positioned stage right-left and center, with 10 TA6000s positioned at strategic locations throughout the room to provide fill. A pair of D12E-I subwoofer enclosures—controlled by a BAG END ELF-1, extended low frequency processor—provide a big bottom end for the system, capable of a flat acoustic response down to 10 Hz.

Heid can't say enough good things about the system. "It's a great design and a great room—and it all works together on a grand level," he said. "The sound system gets rave reviews from both the artists and the audience—you can't beat that." In fact, the acoustics and sound system work so well, several artists have taken advantage of the room's in-house recording system to tape their live sessions for later recorded release.

Open nightly serving up live music, Cox said, "What we want to stress is that this is Pittsburgh's jazz club. "We're not going to be closed-minded. Jazz comes in all forms and each one has its own following." So whether its salsa, fusion, swing, big band, gospel—or just plain low-down cool jazz, it doesn't get any better than at Dowe's on 9th.

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