Articles about jazz were a frequent feature of “men’s” magazines in the 1950’s. After the emergence of Playboy in 1953 a flock of “knock-offs” took flight in the mid 1950’s such as Caper, Eve, and Escapade to name a few. The September 1956 issue of Escapade published an extended article by Joe Knefler that documented […]
Continue ReadingGeorge Byron / Jerome Kern
George Rinker-Forbes Beuchler was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on July 29, 1908. He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and graduated when he was 18 years old. Beuchler was very active in musical productions at Georgetown including several Gilbert and Sullivan operas. After graduation he joined the National Opera Company where he was featured […]
Continue ReadingRoy Harte – Swing Era Drummer
Roy Harte paid his dues during the final years of the Swing Era in the 1940s when major bands and orchestras were regularly booked at dance halls, auditoriums, and theaters across the United States. To paraphrase Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront, “Roy Harte was a contender,” and regularly placed in the annual Down Beat […]
Continue ReadingBud Widom
Bud Widom Leonard Marvin Widom (11/07/1918 – 04/18/1976) worked in the broadcast industry for the Armed Forces Radio & Television Service, the American Broadcasting Company, and the Columbia Broadcasting System. His AFRTS shows included Jubilee, Command Performance, Show Business, Bud’s Bandwagon, and Spotlight Album. Bud’s Bandwagon was the longest running program for Widom with over […]
Continue ReadingZARDI’S – 1956
Zardi’s Jazzland kicked off 1956 with a double-bill – an Andre Previn combo plus Shorty Rogers and His Giants. Previn was recording for Decca Records at the time and his recent LP, let’s get away from it all!, Decca DL 3181, featured Al Hendrickson, Irv Cottler, and Red Mitchell. Shorty was recording for Atlantic Records […]
Continue ReadingZARDI’S – 1955
Zardi’s 1955 Sam Donato and Ben Arkin had been tinkering with the décor of Zardi’s ever since they acquired the club in 1953. The woven raffia ceiling that was framed in bamboo remained but the backdrop below the ceiling behind the musician bandstand changed several times. The strip below the bamboo termination of ceiling […]
Continue Reading200 Hyde Street
The building at the corner of Turk and Hyde. If you walk up Hyde Street toward Eddy from the corner of Turk and Hyde, a large sign hangs above the sidewalk proclaiming Lafayette Coffee Shop – Prime Rib. It is now closed, perhaps the same establishment now located at 611 Larkin Street in San […]
Continue ReadingZARDI’S – 1954
Zardi’s 1954. 1954 provided a cornucopia of modern jazz for Los Angeles jazz fans. In addition to booming business at the city’s leading jazz clubs, jazz impresarios Gene Norman and brothers Norman and Irving Granz staged sell out concerts to meet the growing demand for modern jazz. Gene Norman continued to wear several musical […]
Continue ReadingZARDI’S – 1953
Zardi’s adopted their final moniker in 1953 The musical merry-go-round of Sardi’s, Cardi’s, and Zardi’s settled with the latter name in March of 1953. The existence of the well-known New York restaurant might have been the motivation to make the name changes although evidence of any legal challenge did not make headlines in the newspapers. […]
Continue ReadingZARDI’S – 1951/1952
Zardi’s – 1951/1952 Ray Hewitt’s “The Spotlighter” column in the January 4th edition of the Daily News highlighted the vibrant entertainment scene kicking off 1951 in Los Angeles. The list of artists ran the gamut from top name jazz vocalists like Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald to society orchestras like Phil Spitalny […]
Continue ReadingZARDI’S – 1949/1950
ZARDI’S – 1949/1950 A column in the Daily News from February 18, 1949, noted that Pete Daily and His Chicagoans had been pumping out their two-beat stuff in Hollywood’s Monkey Room to good crowds for a solid six months. The Pete Daily engagement at Sardi’s that began in August of 1948 continued through most […]
Continue ReadingZARDI’S – The Early Years
The space at 6315 Hollywood Boulevard was a restaurant in the early 1920s and 1940s before it became one of the top jazz clubs in Los Angeles in the 1950s.
Continue Reading“Yerxa”
Thomas Edward Yerxa If you heard “YERXA(ELEGY MOVEMENT FROM THE JITTERBUG SUITE)” for the first time without any background information regarding its origin you might have assumed it was from a classic black & white film from the 1940s or early 1950s. Arranger/composer credits for “Yerxa” belong to George Handy and Hal McKusick, written for […]
Continue ReadingVIVIEN GARRY ON RECORD
Vivien Garry The initial musical career of Vivien Garry was intertwined with the emerging guitar career of Arv Garrison. They met in Monroe, Michigan at The Silver Moon, a nightclub where Garrison was performing with a Toledo band led by Bud Ziegler. Monroe was a lakeside town located twenty miles north of Toledo. Vivien […]
Continue ReadingTiffany Club 1950/1994/2021
I visited 3260 West 8th Street in 1994 when I was checking street addresses for some of the major jazz clubs that flourished in Los Angeles during the 1950s. The Tiffany Club had long since ceased functioning as a jazz club or burlesque venue, it now catered to the neighborhood as a Mercado Y Panaderia. […]
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