This Japanese restaurant held a lavish Sunday Jazz buffet with Trudy Pitts and Mr. C. Dr. Janice Presser shared they ended each performance with “What a Wonderful World.”
Category Archives: Jazz Landmarks
Sun Ra Arkestra House
The three-story rowhouse in Germantown has been home to the Arkestra since 1969. Sun Ra Arkestra Director Marshall Allen still lives and plays here.
Today the house is a living museum, full of paintings, sheet music and concert posters, dedicated to keeping the spirit of Sun Ra alive.
Memories from jazz educator and musician Paul Combs:
One thing about having Sun Ra as a neighbor was the possibility of running into him in everyday situations, like shopping at the supermarket. One day a friend of mine and I did just this. Sun Ra and John Gilmore, the great tenor saxophonist and Ra’s right-hand man, were taking care of the shopping for their household (many of the Arkestra members lived in a big house together with their leader). I have always had the impression that life was one big cosmic game for these folks, one that involved serious dedication and a deep sense of humor.
Both musicians were wearing robes, although less elaborate ones than they would wear on stage. Gilmore had a small, brimless North African cap on, and Ra a small turban. Gilmore pushed the cart, and Ra followed behind directing him to the various things they needed. My friend and I followed them at a respectful distance. Finally they got to the meat counter. This was a small neighborhood supermarket and it was customary to have a butcher on duty behind the counter in those days. As they parked themselves in front of the counter Sun Ra said, “John, tell the butcher that Sun Ra would like five pounds of hamburger,” and, although the butcher could hear Ra at least as well as we could, Gilmore relayed the request. The butcher served up the meat with a straight face, as if he were either in on the play or it was a normal scene to him.
I may be wrong, but I have always had the feeling that once the two of them got home they sat down and had a good laugh. My friend and I sure did, and we wished we had thought of this little piece of theater ourselves.
Bessie Smith House
Bessie Smith moved to Philadelphia circa 1922. After her marriage to Jack Gee on June 7, 1923, she lived on Christian Street in South Philly.
The “Empress of the Blues” died in an auto accident in Mississippi on September 26, 1937. Her funeral was held in Philadelphia on October 4, 1937.
The funeral was moved from Upshur’s Funeral Home to O.V. Catto Elks Lodge to accommodate the 30,000 mourners who filed pass her casket.
Bessie’s casket was taken on a slow tour of her South Philly neighborhood, briefly stopping at the Standard Theater where she regularly performed.
Women of Jazz Mural
The Women of Jazz mural features many of the most iconic female jazz performers in the world, including Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Betty Carter, Shirley Scott, Dottie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Mary Lou Williams. The tiles below and to the left of the mural were designed by students at several of the city’s public schools.
Smith, affectionately called Miss Dot, is the blonde next to Nina Simone. She was a longtime resident of Strawberry Mansion and a former manager of the legendary Gert’s Lounge. Miss Dot died in December 2014.
Women of Jazz is included in the Mural Arts Program’s African American Iconic Images Collection.
UPDATE: In 2016, the Philadelphia Housing Authority demolished the mural.
Richard Allen Homes Community Center
Tenor saxophonist Bootsie Barnes grew up in this public housing project whose residents included Bill Cosby.
Barnes recalled dancing the bop with others at the community center where jam sessions were held. His “Boppin’ Round the Center” was inspired by his childhood memories.
Sun Ra Mural
Memories from jazz educator and musician Paul Combs:
I had a couple of encounters with Sun Ra, who was a neighbor of mine, that I would like to share with you before finishing this memoir. I first met Sun Ra during an interview at WHUY-FM, where I was the music producer/announcer. A colleague of mine, Tom Lopez, was conducting the interview, but I got to sit in on it.
Now it is well documented that Herman Blount was born in Chicago, but when he, as Sun Ra, looked me in the eye and told me he was from Saturn, I could not question it. The man had such a presence; I knew that he knew that I knew it was a fantasy, and yet in his company there was also an undeniable truth to the fantasy.
A couple of years later I had the honor to precede him and the Arkestra in a concert. This was part of a series of concerts that a group of us musicians and artists used to organize on Sundays, in a big park in the middle of the Germantown district, where we all lived. On this particular Sunday the sky was full of menacing clouds. Just as we finished performing, a fine mist began and threatened to become rain. We all worried that Ra and company would have to cancel their performance. The sound crew covered all the equipment and disconnected the power. This was discussed with the Arkestra members who were beginning to assemble at the stage, but they said it would be OK, and proceeded to get ready for their set. Just as their preparations were almost complete a car drove up and Sun Ra stepped out. The rain and mist stopped. They played, sang and danced for the next two hours without interruption from the weather, and it was magnificent. When they finished Ra got back in the car and the mist and light rain resumed. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it wasn’t.
Joe Venuti Historical Marker
Giuseppe “Joe” Venuti, a jazz violinist, was called the “Mad Fiddler from Philly.” Venuti is considered the “Father of Jazz Violin.” His historical marker is located at 8th and Fitzwater Streets.
Heritage House Jazz Workshop
From Jeffrey S. McMillan, “A Musical Education: Lee Morgan and the Philadelphia Jazz Scene of the 1950s”:
Early in 1954, a Camden, New Jersey, DJ named Tommy Roberts began holding jazz sessions at the Heritage House [Educational and Cultural Center], a north Philadelphia community center located on the second floor of what is now the Freedom Theater at 1346 N. Broad Street. These sessions became an important part of the Philadelphia jazz scene, especially for young musicians, and gave birth to a series of events known as the “Jazz Workshop.” Beginning in April 1954, the Workshop met every Friday afternoon from 4:00 to 6:00 and featured prominent jazz artists who were in town playing evening engagements in the clubs in Center City. The first hour of each session entailed a performance by the featured artists and was followed by an intermission where members of the audience were free to socialize with the musicians. The second hour was devoted to young musicians and composers who were encouraged to sit in with the artists or submit their work to be performed by the band. This unique, hands-on opportunity for youngsters to learn about jazz was augmented by the quality of artists that appeared at the Workshop.
In 1954 alone the artists included the Chet Baker Quintet (featuring James Moody), Johnny Hodges’s band (which, at the time, included John Coltrane), Buddy DeFranco, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Bud Powell, Ella Fitzgerald, George Shearing, Roy Eldridge, the Erroll Garner Trio, and Billy Taylor. Besides a 75¢ admission fee, there was only one restriction to being admitted to the Workshop: every attendee was required to be twenty years old or younger. Those of legal drinking age, twenty-one or older, had to take their business to the clubs to hear the artists.
Pearl Theatre
The Pearl Theatre opened in 1927. It closed in 1963 and was demolished circa 1970. When the theater opened, an orchestra seat cost fifty cents in the evening, thirty cents for a matinee. Balcony seats were thirty-five cents in the evening, twenty cents for a matinee.
From: Wikipedia
The Pearl Theatre was a notable jazz and dance venue and had a glamorous reputation among the rich and famous. In 1931 the Nicholas Brothers played here. Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and many other prominent jazz ensembles of the period performed here. Bennie Moten and the Kansas City Stompers’ featuring Count Basie on piano performed at the club in November 1931, and in December 1932 the audience raved all week about their “Moten Swing”; the doors of the theatre were let open to the public who came crammed into the theatre to hear the new sound, demanding seven encores on one night. Pearl Bailey was discovered at the theatre in which she entered the theatre’s amateur song and dance contest and was paid $35 a week to perform there for two weeks but the theatre closed during her engagement and she wasn’t paid.
The “Hi De Ho Man,” singer and bandleader Cab Calloway, performed here on several occasions, including a long term residency from January to July 1931.
Pearl Bailey House
Pearl Bailey grew up in North Philadelphia in the 1920s and ’30s. Her family was part of the Great Migration from the South. She began her storied career by winning an amateur song and dance contest at the Pearl Theatre, which was located on the Ridge Avenue jazz corridor, a few blocks from the Golden Strip.
After she hit the big time, Bailey bought the house on N. 23rd Street for family members who had migrated from Newport News, Va., where she was born.
The current owner, William Sharrock, shared that overnight guests included comedians Redd Foxx and Slappy White, Bailey’s ex-husband. She opened the house to friends because African Americans were barred from hotels that catered to white guests.
The Pearl Bailey House has been visited by, among others, Bon Jovi and Bill Clinton (yes, that Bill Clinton).