2024 the best jazz clubs in new york review

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(as of Dec 10, 2024 01:27:10 UTC - Details)

A rare collection of more than 200 full-color and black-and-white souvenir photographs and memorabilia that bring to life the renowned jazz nightclubs of the 1940s and 1950s, compiled by Grammy Award-winning record executive and music historian Jeff Gold and featuring exclusive interviews with Quincy Jones, Sonny Rollins, Robin Givhan, Jason Moran, and Dan Morgenstern.

In the two decades before the Civil Rights movement, jazz nightclubs were among the first places that opened their doors to both Black and white performers and club goers in Jim Crow America. In this extraordinary collection, Jeff Gold looks back at this explosive moment in the history of Jazz and American culture, and the spaces at the center of artistic and social change. 

Sittin’ In is a visual history of jazz clubs during these crucial decades when some of the greatest names in in the genre—Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, and many others—were headlining acts across the country. In many of the clubs, Black and white musicians played together and more significantly, people of all races gathered together to enjoy an evening’s entertainment. House photographers roamed the floor and for a dollar, took picture of patrons that were developed on site and could be taken home in a keepsake folder with the club’s name and logo.

Sittin’ In tells the story of the most popular club in these cities through striking images, first-hand anecdotes, true tales about the musicians who performed their unforgettable shows, notes on important music recorded live there, and more. All of this is supplemented by colorful club memorabilia, including posters, handbills, menus, branded matchbooks, and more. Inside you’ll also find exclusive, in-depth interviews conducted specifically for this book with the legendary Quincy Jones; jazz great tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins; Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic Robin Givhan; jazz musician and creative director of the Kennedy Center, Jason Moran; and jazz critic Dan Morgenstern.

Gold surveys America’s jazz scene and its intersection with racism during segregation, focusing on three crucial regions: the East Coast (New York, Atlantic City, Boston, Washington, D.C.); the Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City); and the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco). 

This collection of ephemeral snapshots tells the story of an era that helped transform American life, beginning the move from traditional Dixieland jazz to bebop, from conservatism to the push for personal freedom.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper (November 17, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062914707
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062914705
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.5 x 1.25 x 8 inches
Reviewer: Mikio Miyaki
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: oases of racial harmony
Review: Jeff Gold’s “Sittin’ in” make us rethink about the pioneer days of Jazz music. It was the era of segregation and Prohibition. Social atmosphere and political movements had a strong effect on the music scene. Enforcing cabaret tax pushed transformation from swing to bop. The book contains a dazzling collection of relative goods, like, handbills, playbills, programs, and also a menu. It is very interesting to know clubs, even speakeasies, in those era present customers original postcards for their promotion. Above all, a collection of souvenir photo folders draws my attention. They wrapped souvenir photos taken by professional photographers in original folders. Flipping over any pages, dressed up customers were unanimously making a pose in front of a camera, as if going to clubs would not be a commonplace event for them. We see regular people of all backgrounds out for a good time. Jazz clubs seem to be oases of racial harmony in segregated America. Gold intersperses the photos with eyewitness interviews with musicians, a Jazz critic, and even with a fashion critic, which broaden our perception of the photos. He says he bought most of these photos from a single collector. I want to know, if anything, why he decided to abandon his precious collection.The item fascinated me most is a matchbook cover of Village Vanguard. Jazz cafes were in fashion of the late ’60s / the early ’70s in Japan. A high-end audio system played back a modern Jazz in a dimly lighted holes in the wall. People listened jazz music in silence, drooping their heads, closing their eyes, having a leisurely smoke, over a cup of coffee. There were implicit rules about the cafes. It was a peculiar culture. Imported jazz records were expensive in those days. Few people had their own home audio systems. Jazz cafes provided an originally designed match-box for their promotion. Not a few person became a collector of these matchboxes. Gold inserts a beautiful matchbook cover collection on page 250/251. If has he more, I want to see all of them.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Historically accurate .
Review: Great book.

Reviewer: OPENHOUSE
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Great Trip Down Memory Lane
Review: This is a very unique book about the Swing/Jazz era: it focuses on the nightclubs where the music happened, AND, provides wonderful photos of the people who went to those places. The fact that a number of these places were desegregated adds some insight into the nature of racial relations and the accessibility of the jazz art form to all peoples. The photos of jazz club visitors - usually these were souvenir pictures taken by club photographers - show people who were just having fun; if you're looking for pictures of black joy, here's your book. But it's notable that many black artists seemed, well, joyful about white clubbers taking photos with them. Also notable: none of these clubs were in states that were formerly part of the Civil War Confederacy.

Reviewer: A.grahm
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Beautiful Book
Review: Bought this for my aunt for Christmas. She loved it. Beautiful. And a great gift.

Reviewer: videogirl
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Read between the lines, interesting history!
Review: Gave this book to my dad who is a jazz historian as a hobby and avid music lover. The book had some great history on jazz artists. Love it!

Reviewer: GJL
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Coffee Table Book for Jazz Fans
Review: Great idea turning this project into a beautiful book. A good supplement for anyone interested in jazz history. Binding on my copy is a little sketchy (loose stitching in spots) so I don't know how long it'll last, but hopefully long enough to be read by future generations of my family. I found one of these club photos in my recently deceased father's photo albums. The photo was in a nice club folder from a club in Oakland, CA. It was a photo of my father with his army buddies circa 1947, either before or after his trip overseas. Nostalgic and very cool. So is this book.

Reviewer: Robert W. Clarke
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Brings You Inside Jazz Clubs of the 20s
Review: If you love classic jazz, Miles, Coletrane, Parker, Gillespie, Basie, Ellington - you're going to want this book to see the clubs where the music was made. Lots of great pictures of the clubs across the country, inside and out, with posters and handbills - enough material to make you feel close to being there.I've got several other coffee table books that feature pictures of the musicians - you still need those pictures of the smoky stages with performer closeups. This book steps you back to seeing what the club looked like, the street it was on, and the broader context in which the music was played.Highly recommended.

Reviewer: Blackberry jam
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fantastic book.
Review: Fantastic book on a bygone era. Great photos and interviews / backstories by Quincy Jones and Sonny Rollins. I can recall seeing photographs like these from my parents and aunts stash that unfortunately were tossed away. Couldn't help but think of Lucy and Ricky going go to the Copa when nightclubs were the rage.

Reviewer: Pzm2520
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excellent research and detail. Great photos.

Reviewer: kaarrll
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Encontré este libro en una librería en un reciente viaje a Nueva York. Esperé hasta que volví a Madrid para comprarlo y sonarlo mucho menos en Amazon. Tengo que decir que la copia que recibí no era perfecta. Al principio pensé que era de segunda mano, pero cuando miré hacia atrás en mi orden no hay mención de tal. Parece que han estado sentados en una estantería durante años porque la sobrecubierta es un poco andrajosa. Golpeé una estrella apagado para esto pero esto no es ninguna reflexión sobre el contenido del libro sí mismo.I came across this book in a bookstore on a recent trip to New York. I waited until I got back to Madrid to buy it and sound it for much less on Amazon. I have to say that the copy I received it less than perfect. At first I thought it was secondhand, but when I looked back at my order there is no mention of such. It looks like to have been sitting on a bookshelf for years because the dust jacket is slight tatty. I knocked one star off for this but this is no reflection on the content of the book itself.

Reviewer: Alban1
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Großartige Fotos ,die jeden Jazzfan erfreuen.Tolle Bilder aus einer vergangenen Zeit als Jazz noch Mainstreambzw Tanzmusik war.Ausserdem die einzigen Lokale im damals sehr rassistischen Amerika, in denen Wege und Schwarze zusammensitzen durften.

Reviewer: ron.dunn
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I like this book, it gives a good sense of the jazz clubs of the era.My only (slight) disappointment is that the photographs are heavily biased towards tables of people rather than the design and style of the clubs themselves. I'd have liked to see a little more layout and architecture.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is simply fantastic. Amazing amount of photos and informative memorabilia along with good text. The pics and artwork showing the inside of clubs is terrific. I love the stops at places like Boston, Cleveland and Detroit. The number of clubs in New York is crazy. I cant help thinking that the scene is superior to that of later music eras. I have a hard time equally comparing the jazz artistry and scene with that of the New York Dolls, for exmple. Tho I have Dolls albums. Theres some kind of decline at the centre of that. The only disappointment to me was the falling off a cliff after Kansas City. The Coverage of the West Coast is disappointing. But don't that stop you from buying this.