New York City has long been considered the jazz capital of the world.  From the historical Harlem scene uptown to the fabled 52nd street downtown to the loft scene in lower Manhattan to the current phenomenon of Jazz at Lincoln Center, this page will provide a wealth of jazz history that will appeal to the jazz newcomer as well as the seasoned enthusiast.  Before diving into the history of Jazz, a definition of the music form will be helpful.  Jazz is music structured around improvisation which also expresses the emotion of the blues.  Since Jazz is

 improvisational, it is noted for the element of surprise at the heart of each performance of a composition, whether live or studio recorded.  Aside from that, Jazz can be quite hard to define and as noted later in the page, some musicians take exception to the very name "Jazz."  Musicians most commonly group in the trios, quartets, quintets, known as small combos or in big bands.  Jazz musicians employ a wide variety of instuments from the brass, woodwind, string and percussion categorioes.

 The instruments most commonly used are trumpet, saxophone, piano, upright bass and drums.  New Orleans is identified as the official birthplace of Jazz where a combination of spirituals, blues, ragtime, hymns, and marching band came together to form this unique music.

 From its roots in New Orleans, Jazz migrated to two important cities in the north during the 1920's: Chicago and New York.  Initially, Chicago attracted more musicians from the south than New York because they had more night clubs, but with the arrival of the depression in 1929, Chicago lost its crown as the Jazz capital to New York.  And New York has remained the Jazz capital of the world ever since. The Cotton Club (pictured above) was one of the first premier night clubs in Harlem to feature Jazz. 

 The club, however, which would garner the most attention for propelling Jazz into the modern era was Minton's Playhouse (pictured at the top right hand corner of the Website and below).  In short, Minton's was the birthplace of Bebop, a style of Jazz that challenged musicians to become virtuosos on their instruments for the harmonic complexity and daring tempos the music demands. Jazz had been     

dominated by the syncopated dance rhythms of the Swing era, but Bebop was too sophisticated for dancing. Bebop simply had a different agenda: musical exploration over dance floor hits.

Minton’s Playhouse was opened in 1938 by clarinet/tenor saxophonist, Henry Minton  By 1940, Minton hired Teddy Hill, who had himself been a successful big band leader.  Hill ran the club with the sensibility of a musician which created an environment that encouraged musical exploration.  Although music played nightly, Mondays at Minton’s became a focal point for the bebop revolution: the architects of the music where Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Max Roach; more on a couple of them shortly.

 

Another aspect of Minton’s legend is the 58 year old mural on the curved back wall of the club behind the bandstand. (See color photo above right). The vividly colored mural was painted by Charles Graham in 1948 as a replacement to an earlier mural that had been destroyed; the mural features four musicians playing together in a jam session in a bedroom which also features a woman laying face down on a brass bed.  It is agreed that the guitarist is Charlie Christian, the clarinet player is Tony Scott, Hot Lips Page is on the trumpet while the drummer has remained unidentified.  The greatest part of the legend is the speculation behind the identity of the mystery woman who is, nonetheless, rumored to be Billie Holiday after one drink too many.  Overall, the mural conveys the essence of the jazzman in his element as the ultra sophisticated, cool artist who holds the exchange of musical ideas and exploration as both sacred and intimate as matrimony, an often used metaphor to explain the musicians’ relationship to his music. Through the efforts of Earl Spain, Minton’s Playhouse reopened for business on May 19, 2006 after being shut down and vacant for 32 years (since 1974). Amazingly, the legendary mural of Charles Graham still exists in its original colors and form.

 

Returning to the musicians, Charlie Parker also affectionately known as “Bird” is considered the musician at the center of the Bebop movement.  So popular and dominant a musician, the famous jazz club Birdland was named after him while he was still alive.  Sadly, his dramatic career was marked by heroin addiction, a vice that contributed to erratic behavior which ultimately got him banned from the very club bearing his name. Bird died at the age of 34.  The (1988) Clint Eastwood produced movie, “Bird” starring Forest Witaker in the title role makes a valiant effort to capture Charlie Parker’s genius.

 

  The other architect of the music who deserves mention is Max Roach, for he is the last architect of this music still alive at the time of this documentation.  Max Roach is a master drummer, composer, educator, activist, griot, and mighty humanitarian who has combined

the arts of Bebop timekeeping and storytelling to create musical results that defy both categories; he has created musical and social documents that stand as sources of inspiration, excellence, and beauty of content, form and imagination; but more importantly, Max has combined the arts of timekeeping and storytelling to propel his undying activism against the many inequalities and injustices that have plagued American society at its core.

 Protest has arisen from his drum in a daring marriage between playin’ somethin’ and sayin’ somethin.  Max has sat behind his drum set as if it were a pulpit and delivered percussive sermons demanding civil and human rights.  Many of his album and song titles reflect this agenda: It’s Time, Deeds, Not Words, Praise for a Martyr, Members, Don’t Git Weary, Tender Warriors, Speak Brother Speak, We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, and Tryptich: Prayer/Protest/Peace.

 Max Roach even had reason to rail against the very name attached to the music he has helped develop into a virtually unparalleled art form.  He has long called “jazz” a four-letter-word—a belittling term which further creates a faceless category that denies the individual composers of America’s classical music the respect they deserve.  In Max’s own words, “these four-letter-word musicians are indeed a very special breed.  They are highly skilled in the art and science of organizing sounds to create structurally complete and profound musical compositions spontaneously.” He believed a more appropriate name for these musicians would be Creative Sound Architects, a name which certainly denotes both the individual artistic achievement and the overall impact the music has had globally. Overall, Max Roach's courage as a musician and a spokesman made him one of the most prominent jazz voices in New York and the world.

In general, the most prominent names in Jazz came out of the New York scene: piano giants such as Art Tatum, James P. Johnson and Fats Waller from the 1920's; big band swing led by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Bennie Goodman from the 1930's; female vocalist who accompanied the big bands such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan;as mentioned, bebop architects Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk of the 1940's; hard bop masters included Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, and Lee Morgan of the 1950's (the photograph below titled A Great Day in Harlem captures many of the greatest musicians of eras mentioned thus far); free Jazz explorations of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Albert Ayler of the 1960's; fusion pioneers MIles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and John Mclaughlin of the 1970's; from the 1980's and beyond, musicians such as those dubbed the Young Lions (which included Brandford and Wynton Marsalis) and many others carry the torch by reaching to the past to recreate or reinvent the music which is truly an American born (New York flavored) art form.   

 

 Stunning portraits of these Jazz musicians and many more are available at the official site of historic Jazz photographer William Gottlieb.  Jazz photography has spawned timeless shots that have immortalized many musicians who were not documented very much or at all in moving image.  Francis Wolff and Chuck Stewart are two other Jazz photographers who have produced portraits that are as legendary as the musicians captured.

 

Today, within the five boros, there are literally hundreds of Jazz clubs or venues that will feature jazz performances, the $128 Million (Jazz at Lincoln Center venue being the most prominent of all) .

Obviously, drink minimums/ music fees and musician caliber will range from the sublime to the ridiculous (depending on who you ask, of course) nonetheless, the music is available to listeners seven days a week.

Well, whether in New York City or elsewhere, I wish you many wonderful Jazzy nights.