Category Archives: Green Book

Green Book, Jazz Venues
2 Comments

Morton Emerson opened Emerson’s in 1934. The nightspot was listed in The Negro Motorist Travel Guide. According to The John Coltrane Reference, John Coltrane and Percy Heath stopped by Emerson’s to see saxophonist Lester Young on June 17, 1948.

Billie Holiday’s gig at the South Philly jazz club on March 14, 1959 — four months before her death — is the setting for the Broadway play, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.”

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill - Playbill

Audra McDonald won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.

Also known as Emerson’s Café and Emerson’s Sunset Grille, Emerson’s closed circa 1960.

Green Book, Jazz Venues

Club 421

The Charlie Parker Quintet with Little Benny Harris (trumpet), Charlie Parker (alto sax), Walter Bishop Jr. (piano), Teddy Kotick (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums) performed here in June 1951.

In John Coltrane: His Life and Music, Lewis Porter writes:

The Club 421 on Wyalusing Avenue also became one of the leading venues for jazz. Rice recalls: “I was the first band in [421 Club]. That was right around the corner from me. That place used to be a restaurant at first. We used to hang around there—it was called the Coffee Pot. Then a guy bought it and made a nightclub there—a gentleman named Mr. Roach. So they decided to have music, and I had the first band in there with [saxophonist] Vance Wilson, [William] “Reds” [later known as “Red”] Garland [on piano; 1923-84], [bassist] Bob Bushnell, and a good trumpet player, Johnny Hughes, who passed on some time ago.”

Rice is legendary drummer Charlie Rice who led the first house band at Club 421.

Charlie Rice

Club 421 closed circa 1952.

Green Book

Downstairs at the Showboat

17 Comments

The legendary Showboat was located in the basement of the Douglass Hotel. The historical marker out front notes that Billie Holiday “often lived here.”

Billie Holiday Marker

A while back, I visited what used to be the Showboat with Yasuhiro “Fuji” Fujioka, founder of the Coltrane House of Osaka and co-author of “The John Coltrane Reference”; Lenora Early, founder of the Philadelphia John Coltrane House; and Dr. George E. Allen, author of “I Was Not Asked.”

Until that visit, I assumed the Showboat was in the lower level space with the two windows facing Lombard Street. As we descended the stairs, Dr. Allen said something was wrong. Back then, there was no landing between the steps. Instead, the club was down a steep set of stairs. And sure enough, after a bit of snooping, we found what remains of the original steps that led down to the Showboat.

Stairs 1

Stairs 2

Stairs 3.jpg

So imagine the likes of Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Cannonball Adderley, Bootsie Barnes, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Heath, Thelonious Monk, Dinah Washington, Ray Charles and Ramsey Lewis descending those steps to take their place on the small bandstand behind the bar.

Showboat - John Coltrane - Live at the Showboat

The Douglass Hotel is a stop on the Green Book walking tour which will be held on Saturday, October 12, 2024, 10am to 12pm. Tickets are $25 per person.

Buy Tickets