WHY A COOKING SCHOOL? AND WHY A JAZZ BISTRO?

A midlife crisis led to the Santa Fe School of Cooking's creation 31 years ago. Susan Curtis was working as a commercial real estate appraiser but wanted a change. She and husband David Ballantyne Curtis, an isotope geochemist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, loved to travel and to eat. While in New Orleans, Susan went to a cooking class and realized that Santa Fe had the same kind of local cuisine culture that made the Louisiana school a success.

David Curtis was an avid amateur musician. He played clarinet and saxophone, studied with local jazz great Eddie Daniels for almost 20 years, and was known to bring his clarinet to lunchrooms at the lab to provide some midday entertainment. Curtis died in 2017, and his family began planning the jazz bistro shortly afterwards.

Kristen Krell, the youngest of Curtis' two daughters, traveled to New York with her mother to see what made jazz clubs tick, and by the fall of 2019 they were ready to launch the jazz bistro. It's a family affair, with older daughter and cooking school director Nicole Curtis Ammerman figuring out how to fit the jazz evenings into the busy schedule of classes and private events. Krell managed the music side, and Susan oversaw table arrangements. The four Curtis grandkids are involved, too, serving as the host, a waiter, a table busser, and the lighting designer for the events.

Plans for 2022 are in the works, with the addition of some lower-priced jazz brunches high on the priority list. A celebration of Valentine's Day on Feb. 12 is already set; it will feature a performance by Las Cruces-born Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim, co-winner of the 2021 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. — M.T.