Brownstone
Entertainment @ 'Minton's Playhouse'
In New York, Jazz Musicians
- looking
for the action found it in half a dozen after-hours clubs uptown. The
most famous of these was 'Minton's Playhouse'; the laboratory in which
musical experiments, about to emerge as the bebop revolution began
around 1941. In spite of its' exotic name, 'Minton's' was a drab sort
of a place. A marquee extending from the entrance to the curbstone, the
latter painted white and zoned as a passenger-loading area, gave the
club a faint aura of prestige on otherwise dingy 118th Street.
Inside there was the usual checkroom with its' divided door
and
coatracks, a long bar, tables, a wall with mirrors, somewhat the worse
for wear, and a bandstand like those in many of the old Kansas City
clubs of Pendergast days - cramped, large enough for a baby grand piano
and a drum outfit, and at a stretch 5 or 6 musicians. There was no
decor of note. 'Minton's Playhouse' was poorly lit, reasonably clean,
attractively priced, and out of the way - the kind of place jazz
musicians liked. As the word began to get around taxicabs pulled up to
the faded green awning with a frequency enjoyed only by the 'in' places
of those years; taxis discharged musicians easily identifiable by the
trumpet and saxophone cases they carried. Had the management of
'Minton's' thoght to provide a guest book, it would have contained the
name of every important jazz figure of the transition years.
The
Club was named after its' owner, Henry Minton, a middle aged man who
enjoyed the slight distinction of having been the first Negro
("colored" was then the official expression) delegate to Local 802, the
New York Chapter of the American Federation of Musicians. Until late
1940, Minton ran the club by himself. It drew 'trade' from the Hotel
Cecil, whos' lobby could be reached by a connecting door. In better
days 'Minton's' premises had been the Hotel dining room. 'Minton's
Playhouse' became a hangout for the old-timers, drifting in and out of
the dance band business. There was no real music policy. The
baby
grand piano often went untouched for days. Business declined steadily
until the owner bestirred himself to hire a new manager. His
choice was Teddy Hill.
"Why not" he told
Henry Minton, "Hire a house band and build up the jam session business?"
And adjusting the dark gray felt hat that he wore in all seasons,
indoors
and out, to conceal the encircling bald spot on his head "throw a
Monday
night feed for artists in the stage show up at The Apollo? We could put
a
notice on the call board and invite everybody in the cast." Monday
night
was show business Sunday. 'At-liberty' night.To Henry Minton the plan
sounded
worth a try.
"Celebrity Night" at
'Minton's Playhouse', its' dinners hosted by
Teddy Hill, quiet and hatted, soon
became famous coast to coast. Wherever show
folk or jazzmen might be working - at "The Howard" in Philadelpia, or
"The Regal" in Chicago,
or way out on
the Coast, at "The Lincoln Theatre" in Los Angeles -
the word was passed. Buffet-
style dinners at 'Minton's' mustered up all of the succulent dishes,
that
artists had known from childhood, and could so seldom find on the road:
barbecued ribs with real Creole sauce, panfried chicken,collard greens
simmered
with a ham-bone, sweet potato pie, candied yams, red beans and rice.
Once in a
while Hill 'gilded the lily' and flew in a shipment of crawdads from Kansas City or Mississippi River
catfish from St.
Louis. He raised the
price of mixed drinks from twenty-five cents to thirty-five cents. In
1941
Teddy Hill and Henry Minton were well into the soul-food business. The
Playhouse had a new lease on life. 'Minton's' became the place to go
on Mondays in the early Forties.
It was also the scene of the palace
revolution that overturned jazz.
Excerpts
from: "The Be-bop Laboratory" by Ross Russell
Home
| A
Brief history
| Minton's
| Minton's 2
| Minton's 3
| Minton's 4
| Minton's
5
| Minton's 6
| Contact Us