Mintons Playhouse Opening Night: The Door
We've seen fabled jazz clubs "reborn" such as Birdland, etc, but rarely does one truly come back from the grave. Minton's Playhouse, the legendary Harlem club best known as being the "birthplace" of bebop and for some memorable jam sessions with the like of Monk and Charlie Christian and Coleman Hawkins closed in the 1970's. Amazingly enough, as of May 19th, 2006, it's back, thanks in large part to the investment of owner Earl Spain. More photos by "harlemfur" from the grand reopening at Flickr (click the photos), and read the NY Post story here: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/68671.htm
posted by Joe M at 6:12 PM
4 Comments:
A Jazz temple reopens. I worked at the NY State Office for Shelter and Supported Housing in the late 80's. Minton's was converted to a supported housing project for a while. The guy on the project happened to mention it one day and I over herad it. Maybe we can check it out when in the city in June. Thanks, great blog.
I hope Minton's re-opened for the right reasons, and not just as a commercial venture. New York City doesn't need another overpriced, stuffy jazz club. We already have Birdland, BlueNote, and the Iridium to fill that role. My wish is that Minton's would continue to honor it's great tradition as a club showcasing innovative and new music (Bebop was arguably created here).
Great news. From one Jam to another.
http://amjamjazz.blogspot.com/
Very steamy nights these. The doors to the pub wide open and the buses and sirens roaring past. The musician chats and deals spill out onto the road, with Canary Wharf flashing away in the distance, and the police setting insurance traps. All to three tenors and a rhythm section.
Inside, the regulars grab the seats under the aircon. The big tables are filling with glittering drinks, and laghing people, and then a man slopes to the mike, necklaced in brass, and says:
"Hello, welcome to The Amjam..."
good for you. My home is very distant: Vitoria (Brazil east coast). Visit my blog: http://www.jazzseen.blogspot.com./. If you don’t understand Portuguese, don’t worry, you can listen jazz.
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