Category Archives: Jazz Venues

Jazz Venues

Jazz in the Underground

In his autobiography, Jimmy Heath recalled that erstwhile jazz drummer Bill Cosby was a bartender at Jazz in the Underground:

I still kept going back to Philly for gigs, and between 1960 and 1964, in addition to the Sahara, the Showboat, the Uptown, and Pep’s, another club I worked in Philly was the Underground, located at Broad and Pine streets. The Underground had a number of rooms and a few different bars. In one room were women dancers, and in another was a comedy act. I was playing in the Underground with Sam Dockery, Mickey Roker, and Buster Williams when I first met Bill Cosby, a Philly native, who was bartending at the Underground and telling jokes at the same time. When we talk about those days, I tell him, “I was big-time and you were behind the bar.”

By the way, Cosby wrote the foreword to Heath’s biography “I Walked With Giants” (Temple University Press, 2010).

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Green Book, Jazz Venues

Ridge Cotton Club

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Opened in the 1930s and listed in the The Negro Motorist Green Book, the Ridge Cotton Club shows the influence of Harlem and the Cotton Club. And like the legendary Harlem nightspot, it was probably controlled by the mob.

Two of the original owners, Morris Brodsky and Harry Hirsch, died within days of each other in January 1949 following “injuries inflicted by an assailant.”

The Elmer Snowden Trio played here in April 1946.

Jazz Venues

Roseland Cafe

Jazz drummer Charlie Rice recounted meeting Philly Joe Jones at Roseland Cafe:

I met Joe when he was a teenager, at a place called the Roseland in West Philly, at Arch and Udell streets. It was a breeding ground for musicians. We both weren’t old enough to be there. That’s where I learned to play drums. Jimmy Preston and a couple of other musicians worked at the place. Playing in different clubs, testing ourselves, seeing who could play the best-that was the thing at the time.

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Jazz Venues

Relish

Relish celebrates both the traditional and contemporary cuisine of the South and jazz, America’s original art form.

The interior is warm and inviting with textures and fabrics that dance in soft contrast and complement. Located on Ogontz Avenue in the heart of commerce in West Oak Lane, Relish is the gateway to stylish dining, arts, culture and lifestyle.

Relish has live jazz on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Master vocalist Sherry Wilson Butler is a regular. Check the music schedule here.

Jazz Venues

Warmdaddy’s

Warmdaddy’s creates a place to enjoy down home culture and the music of legendary blues, R&B and soul artists. Every Sunday, they feature a live jazz performance during their popular Jazz Brunch Buffet. Seating starts at 11:00am and ends at 2:00pm.

For more information, visit www.warmdaddys.com.

Jazz Venues

TnT Monroe’s

Located on 15th and Arch streets in Center City, the jazz spot was owned by Tommy “TnT” Monroe.

tnt-owner-mr-tommy-tnt-monroe-85

A bandleader, Monroe was part of the Philadelphia ecosystem that nurtured young musicians like Lee Morgan and Reggie Workman. In Jeffrey S. McMillan’s paper, “A Musical Education: Lee Morgan and the Philadelphia Jazz Scene of the 1950’s,” Workman recounted:

There was a very healthy music scene in the community taverns at the time, aside from the fact that there were people like Tommy Monroe who ran music workshops for young musicians, or Owen Marshall’s big band workshop with new music he wrote and that rehearsed in living rooms, taverns, ballrooms, any place that had a piano and chairs and where we could make music.

The house band at TnT Monroe’s included Sid Simmons, Charles Fambrough and Craig McIver. Tenor saxophonist Bootsie Barnes (pictured) ran the jam sessions.

TNT Monroe's - Bootsie Barnes

Jazz Venues

Second Office Club

Formerly the Moonglow, owners Ernie and Evelyn Harris renamed it the Second Office because “it was a visited by Center City office workers after five-thirty.”

Dizzy Gillespie’s favorite drummer, Philly native Mickey Roker, played here.  In 1980, the jazz spot hosted a luncheon for then-First Lady Rosalind Carter.

Second Office Club

Jazz Venues

Zanzibar Blue

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Owned by brothers, Robert and Benjamin Bynum, Zanzibar Blue first opened in 1990 on 11th Street in Washington Square West. In 1996, the club moved to the Bellevue on the Avenue of the Arts, where it played host to jazz and blues greats, including Nancy Wilson, Lou Rawls, Grover Washington, Jr., Jimmy Scott, Shirley Horn, Ahmad Jamal, Steve Tyrell, Chick Corea, Arturo Sandoval and Chuck Mangione.

Zanzibar Blue Collage - Broad Street

Smooth jazz radio station WJJZ broadcast Sunday brunches from Philadelphia’s premier jazz club. Zanzibar Blue closed on April 29, 2007.

Jazz Venues

Zanzibar Blue

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Owned by brothers, Robert and Benjamin Bynum, Zanzibar Blue first opened in 1990 on 11th Street in Washington Square West.

Zanzibar Blue Jazz - 2.24.15

In 1996, Zanzibar Blue moved to Avenue of the Arts.