Related Research Articles
The Savoy Ballroom was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harlem. Poet Langston Hughes calls it the "Heartbeat of Harlem" in Juke Box Love Song, and he set his work "Lenox Avenue: Midnight" on the legendary street. The Savoy was one of many Harlem hot spots along Lenox, but it was the one to be called the "World's Finest Ballroom". It was in operation from March 12, 1926, to July 10, 1958, and as Barbara Englebrecht writes in her article "Swinging at the Savoy", it was "a building, a geographic place, a ballroom, and the 'soul' of a neighborhood". It was opened and owned by white entrepreneur Jay Faggen and Jewish businessman Moe Gale. It was managed by African-American businessman and civic leader Charles Buchanan. Buchanan, who was born in the British West Indies, sought to run a "luxury ballroom to accommodate the many thousands who wished to dance in an atmosphere of tasteful refinement, rather than in the small stuffy halls and the foul smelling, smoke laden cellar nightclubs ..."
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early '30s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era, when people were dancing the Lindy Hop. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Jimmie Lunceford, and Django Reinhardt.
Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records. Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie.
Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist.
James Melvin Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.
Kenneth Clarke Spearman, nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-hat, along with the use of the bass drum for irregular accents.
The swing era was the period (1933–1947) when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though this was its most popular period, the music had actually been around since the late 1920s and early 1930s, being played by black bands led by such artists as Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Bennie Moten, Cab Calloway, Earl Hines, and Fletcher Henderson, and white bands from the 1920s led by the likes of Jean Goldkette, Russ Morgan and Isham Jones. An early milestone in the era was from "the King of Swing" Benny Goodman's performance at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on August 21, 1935, bringing the music to the rest of the country. The 1930s also became the era of other great soloists: the tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Lester Young; the alto saxophonists Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges; the drummers Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, Jo Jones and Sid Catlett; the pianists Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson; the trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Bunny Berigan, and Rex Stewart.
Minton's Playhouse is a jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Cecil Hotel at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. It is a registered trademark of Housing and Services, Inc. a New York City nonprofit provider of supportive housing. The door to the actual club itself is at 206 West 118th Street where there is a small plaque. Minton's was founded by tenor saxophonist Henry Minton in 1938. Minton's is known for its role in the development of modern jazz, also known as bebop, where in its jam sessions in the early 1940s, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie pioneered the new music. Minton's thrived for three decades until its decline near the end of the 1960s, and its eventual closure in 1974. After being closed for more than 30 years, the newly remodeled club reopened on May 19, 2006, under the name Uptown Lounge at Minton's Playhouse. However, the reopened club was closed again in 2010.
Melvin James "Sy" Oliver was an American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader.
Lenox Avenue – also named Malcolm X Boulevard; both names are officially recognized – is the primary north–south route through Harlem in the upper portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. This two-way street runs from Farmers' Gate at Central Park North to 147th Street. Its traffic is figuratively described as "Harlem's heartbeat" by Langston Hughes in his poem Juke Box Love Song. The IRT Lenox Avenue Line runs under the entire length of the street, serving the New York City Subway's 2 and 3 trains.
Tommy Stevenson was a jazz trumpet player in the big band era. He was the first high note trumpeter to be featured on recordings.
Paul Francis Webster was a jazz trumpeter in the big band era. He was a high-note specialist for Jimmie Lunceford's band, and later played in several other big bands.
Edward Durham was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. The orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller took great benefit from his composing and arranging skill.
Denzil DaCosta Best was an American jazz percussionist and composer born in New York City. He was a prominent bebop drummer in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Earl Malcolm "Jock" Caruthers Sr. was an American jazz saxophonist associated with the Kansas City jazz scene.
Quicksilver is a song, which became a hit for Bing Crosby in 1950. It was written by Eddie Pola, George Wyle and Irving Taylor.
Henry "Rubberlegs" Williams was an American blues and jazz singer, dancer and occasional female impersonator. A star of Vaudeville, he is probably best remembered for his singing work with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, although it was his dancing for which he was renowned in New York City and Boston.
The Paradise Club or Club Paradise was a nightclub and jazz club at 220 North Illinois Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was one of two major black jazz clubs in Atlantic City during its heyday from the 1920s through 1950s, the other being Club Harlem. Entertaining a predominantly white clientele, it was known for its raucous floor shows featuring gyrating black dancers accompanied by high-energy jazz bands led by the likes of Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, and Lucky Millinder. In 1954 the Paradise Club merged with Club Harlem under joint ownership.
The Nest Club was a cabaret in Harlem, more specifically an afterhours club, at 169 West 133rd Street – a street known then both as "Swing Street" and "Jungle Alley" – two doors east of Seventh Avenue, downstairs. The club, operating under the auspices of The Nest Club, Inc., was founded in 1923, co-owned, and operated by John C. Carey (né John Clifford Carey; 1889–1956) and Mal Frazier (né Melville Hunter Frazier; 1888–1967). The club flourished through 1933. The U.S. Prohibition — a nationwide ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages — ran from 1920 to 1933. The club faced a formidable challenge to its viability following the Great Crash of October 1929, followed by the Great Depression that bottomed around March 1933.
Miller Brothers and Lois, a renowned tap dance class act team, comprising Danny Miller, George Miller and Lois Bright, was a peak of platform dancing with the tall and graceful Lois said to distinguish the trio. The group performed the majority of their act on platforms of various heights, with the initial platform spelling out M-I-L-L-E-R. They performed over-the-tops, barrel turns and wings on six-foot-high pedestals. They toured theatres coast to coast with Jimmy Lunceford and his Orchestra, Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, and the Count Basie Band.
References
- 1 2 3 4 DeVeaux, Scott Knowles (1999). The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 138. ISBN 0520205790.
- 1 2 Polatnick, Gordon (October 6, 2015). "Historic Lenox Ave. Harlem Jazz Clubs". Big Apple Jazz Tours. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Fletcher, Tom (March 18, 2014). "The Cotton Club". New York Architecture. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Korall, B. (2004). Drummin' Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz, The Swing Years. Oxford University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-19-534651-0 . Retrieved March 29, 2017.
- ↑ Driggs, Frank; Haddix, Chuck (January 1, 2006). Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop--A History. Oxford University Press. p. 192. ISBN 9780195307122.
- ↑ "The New York Age from New York, New York on May 15, 1943 · Page 4".
- 1 2 3 4 Kernodle, T.L. (2004). Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams. Northeastern University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-55553-606-0 . Retrieved March 29, 2017.
- ↑ Fast, Howard (1951). Peekskill USA. New York, NY: Civil Rights Congress. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
- 1 2 3 Gill, J. (2011). Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America. Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-8021-9594-4 . Retrieved March 29, 2017.
- ↑ Chilton, J. (1990). The Song of the Hawk: The Life and Recordings of Coleman Hawkins. The Michigan American music series. University of Michigan Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-472-08201-8 . Retrieved March 29, 2017.
- ↑ Manning, F.; Millman, C.R. (2007). Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop. Temple University Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-59213-563-9 . Retrieved March 29, 2017.
- 1 2 Feather, L. (1987). The Jazz Years. Da Capo paperback. Perseus Books Group. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-0-306-80296-6 . Retrieved March 29, 2017.
- ↑ O'Neal, H. (2009). The Ghosts of Harlem: Sessions with Jazz Legends. The Ghosts of Harlem: Sessions with Jazz Legends. Vanderbilt University Press. ISBN 978-0-8265-1627-5 . Retrieved March 29, 2017.
- ↑ "Golden Gate Million Dollar Ballroom opening night ad". New York Age . October 21, 1939. p. 12. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
- ↑ "Bishop Alvin A. Childs Dies; Former Mayor of Harlem, 64". The New York Times . August 16, 1973. p. 38. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
- ↑ Glenn, Evelyn (2009). Shades of Difference: Why Skin Color Matters. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 81. ISBN 9780804759984.
- ↑ Bailey, Eric J. (2008). Black America, Body Beautiful: How the African American Image is Changing Fashion, Fitness, and Other Industries. Westport, CT: Praeger. p. 45. ISBN 9780275995959 . Retrieved January 2, 2017.
- ↑ "Miss Fine Brown Frame". Ebony. 2 (7): 47. May 1947. Retrieved January 2, 2017.[ dead link ]
