It’s 2016, and Yale University acquires a priceless piece of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1932, young artist E. Simms Campbell drew his “Night-Club Map of Harlem,” a who’s-who illustration of the neighborhood hotspots. Drawn cartoon-style, we see Cab Calloway singing at the Cotton Club. There’s Glady Bentley’s Clam House, with Gladys tickling the ivories in …

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Al Hibbler, a jazz vocalist who captivated generations of music lovers with his unique vocal style, was born blind on August 16, 1915, in Tyro, Mississippi. He was the first black singer to have a radio program in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1930s. In the early 1940s he joined Jay McShann’s orchestra as a …

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Every picture tells a story … or two. It’s 1951 Los Angeles, and photographer Bob Willoughby works in his darkroom, listening to the radio. The disc jockey promotes a jazz concert that night at the Olympic arena. The concert starts at midnight. Intrigued, Willoughby packs his camera and heads for the show. What he finds …

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At the turn of the 20th century, the phenomenon of the Pullman Porter caught the public’s imagination. A journey on a Pullman car summoned up images of romance and adventure. In a rigidly segregated society, Pullman Porters were probably the only African-Americans that most of white society ever truly interacted with. But there is an …

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“What is a color?” British jazz pianist George Shearing was the ninth child born to a poor family in England. Hisfather delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains in the evening. Blind from birth, heattended school for the blind where he studied Braille music. Shearing turned down universityscholarships to earn a living playing piano in a …

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A historic venue with a divisive past. The First Great Migration to northern states brought tens of thousands of African-Americans toNew York City, especially Harlem, during the 1920’s. Harlem soon became a nexus for art,literature, and music. The clubs, speakeasies, and juke joints of Lenox and Seventh Avenuescharacterized the nightlife. Places like Smalls’ Paradise, the …

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“I wasn’t really naked. I simply didn’t have any clothes on.”  Freda Josephine McDonald Baker was born and raised in the slums of St. Louis. After a successful audition at a local vaudeville theater, she left home at the age of 13, working as a waitress and working on the stage whenever she could. She …

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Few casual fans of Jazz recognize the name of Cal Massey. Sadly ignored by countless Jazz critics, Massey was revered by the foremost musicians of his day as a genius of composition and as a solid trumpeter. John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Archie Shepp, and many others have performed and recorded Massey‘s works. He was a forceful activist for the …

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A child prodigy born in the midst of Black artistic expression in Philadelphia, a leader who never learned to read music, yet excelled at it along the way, she grew up to be a fine swing pianist and nightclub entertainer.  Beryl Booker began her star-filled career as a girl sweeping kitchen floors for quarters while …

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Rising from extreme poverty and neglect in Baltimore, Ethel Waters attended a costume partyon her 17 th birthday, at a nightclub on Juniper Street. She was persuaded to sing two songs andimpressed the audience so much that she was offered professional work at the Lincoln Theatrein Baltimore. After her start in Baltimore, she was asked …

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