Ella Fitzgerald’s engagement at Zardi’s Jazzland carried over from 1956 into the first week of January 1957 closing on Sunday the 6th. Slim Gaillard and his combo were booked for two weeks beginning on the 7thduring midweek with the Dave Brubeck Quartet headlining weekend billing on January 11, 12, 13 and 18, 19, and 20. Dave […]
Continue ReadingLos Angeles Jazz Clubs
Shelly’s Manne-Hole – Genesis
The premises at 1608 North Cahuenga in Hollywood housed a variety of tenents prior to becoming a major jazz club on the West Coast in the 1960s. In the early 1920s the address was listed as the location for sales opportunities, one product being a slenderizing cream, just send $3.50 with the ad for your […]
Continue ReadingThe Clef, 1841 Club, Duffy’s Gayety
The venue at 1841 N. Cahuenga Boulevard was known as Mary Louise of Hollywood in the 1930s when luncheon was served during noon contract bridge lectures. Noontime tea and biscuits disappeared in the mid thirties when a liquor license was issued to Carl Arnot and his White Horse Tavern featuring dining, dancing, and entertainment. The […]
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 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 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. […]
Continue ReadingTiffany Club – 1956/1957
Tiffany Club – 1956/1957 Shelly Manne and His Men continued to be the headline attraction through December 1955 at Tiffany Club and were carried over into January of 1956. The continuing engagement included a special “New Year’s Eve Gala” at the club with favors, hats, horns, and noisemakers. Manne’s working quintet comprised Stu Williamson […]
Continue ReadingSHELLY’S MANNE-HOLE – FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
Shelly Manne opened his jazz club at 1608 North Cahuenga Boulevard in November of 1960. Noted jazz columnist Ralph J. Gleason profiled Shelly’s Manne-Hole in the Los Angles Mirror, View magazine. Gleason’s article is followed by an article that appeared five years later, an appraisal of Shelly’s Manne-Hole on the occasion of its fifth anniversary. […]
Continue ReadingTiffany Club – 1955 – Part Two
Chris Connor opened at Tiffany Club on Friday, July 8, 1955. Slim Gaillard and his crew were held-over for the sixth time. Down Beat published a profile of Chris that started out on the wrong foot when they printed her last name as “Connors.” Corrected for entry here: New York—Young, energetic Chris Connor, the former […]
Continue ReadingTiffany Club – 1955 – Part One
The Lee Konitz Quartet with Ronnie Ball, Peter Ind, and Jeff Morton continued their December 1954 run into the middle of January 1955. After leaving Tiffany Club on January 13th, the quartet was booked into Maynard Sloate’s Jazz City where they continued to draw capacity crowds. In his youth Lee Konitz studied clarinet with a […]
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