Billy Jones passed away on the morning of June 7 after battling a fast-moving form of glioblastoma, as shared by the teams at Baby’s All Right, Funny Bar, and Nightclub 101; he was 45.
When Billy first came to New York in the early 2000s, it was the city’s wild energy and music everywhere that drew him in, and soon enough, he was working behind the scenes at places like Sin-é, Elvis Guesthouse, and The Dance, turning his love for bands into a real job. Years later, with Zachary Mexico, he opened Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg, a spot that quickly became legendary for giving huge opportunities to artists like SZA and Billie Eilish before they hit it big—sometimes you’d catch a show there and feel like you were part of something special before the rest of the world caught on.
Jones always wanted music to be for everyone, not just adults, and pushed for 18+ shows so teenagers could come, too. “You know, there will be 10 super smart kids who are fans and really want to be there. For us to exclude them based on age isn’t cool, we want to give them the opportunity to experience the music,” he told Brooklyn Magazine back in 2016. “18+ shows are fun, the kids are really excited to be there and you can sense it. We do all age brunches. People will write to us ‘I really want to see this band, and my father I have CCed has agreed to chaperone me,’ and it’s awesome. Families like it, kids like it, it can be for everyone.”
Fans sometimes wish more venues were like the ones Billy ran.
Not too long ago, he and Tom Moore teamed up with Knitting Factory Entertainment to bring Night Club 101 to life inside the old Pyramid Club, and after a soft launch at the end of 2024, it officially opened this year with everything from indie-rock and jazz to art shows and wild dance parties. And then, right at the start of 2025, the Lower East Side got Funny Bar, a jazz-bar-restaurant, thanks to Jones and Moore—sometimes it feels like there’s never enough jazz bars, but here’s one more.
When Baby’s All Right first opened, Alan Palomo from Neon Indian wrote, “When Baby’s All Right opened, there was a certain synergy about it.. It answered the begging question of where to go after DIY favorite 285 Kent closed. The answer, according to Billy and Co., was to take the like-minded giddy, fever dream curation to a better space both for the band and audience. It looked great, it sounded great, it IS great, and CONTINUES to be. An innumerable amount of bands have cut their teeth in that space and gone on to do many a great musical deed. A lot of my favorite NYC memories are at Baby’s All Right, Elvis’s Guest House, and Pianos; courtesy of Billy. Rest in peace, bud.”
Lots of musicians and people who worked in music shared memories and love for Billy, like Cassie Ramone, Alix Brown, and Windser, all saying how much he meant to the scene. The teams at Baby’s All Right, Night Club 101, and Funny Bar also said, “He was one of the best to ever do it. We are holding him in the light,” and asked everyone to just keep sharing music and love, just like Billy did every day. There’s going to be a memorial at Baby’s All Right in July, with more info coming soon. Always remember: “It’s a feeling.”
