Connie's Inn

Connie 's Inn was a nightclub and venue which existed from 1923 in New York's Harlem and and Small's Paradise was in the 1930s with the Cotton Club to the "Big Three " in the nightclubs of Harlem.

History of the Club

Connie 's Five Star Inn, as the club with full name was called, was in the basement of the Lafayette Theatre Building on the 2221 Seventh Avenue corner 131st Street, opposite the popular night club Small's Paradise. Established had him during Prohibition 1923 Connie Immerman, a white distiller. Previously was in the rooms a deli, from 1921 a speakeasy under the name The Shuffle Inn, but was officially closed in the following year for violation of the Volstead Act.

For the opening on July 21, 1923 Leonard Harper was hired to organize a revue at the club; he was supported by Duke Ellington as a pianist samples. Wilbur Sweatman also appeared with his Acme Syncopators; also the singer Ada " Bricktop " Smith, which should be a nightclub owner in Paris later. In the 1920s this had the black comedienne Moms Mabley ( 1894-1975 ) made ​​their debut in New York City.

In the 1930s, here Fletcher Henderson had a regular engagement; Recordings were made for Brunswick with his Connie 's Inn Orchestra (Casa Loma Stomp / Good- Bye Blues ). Such jazz greats as Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, as well as the entertainer Peg Leg Bates performed here, and also the orchestra of Charlie Johnson ( with Monette Moore as a band singer ), Don Redman and Luis Russell (1934 /35). Fats Waller's song Is not Misbehavin ' in 1929 experienced its first performance in the revue Hot Chocolates, sung by Margaret Simms and Paul Bass. Harlan Lattimore made ​​his Connie 's Inn Orchestra recordings for Columbia in 1932; Bessie Smith jumped in 1936 for the ill Billie Holiday one. How were at the Cotton Club in Connie 's Inn predominantly African-American artists, while the audience consisted entirely of white visitors.

Race riots in Harlem in 1935 ended the interest of the white audience at the " exotic pleasure " in venues such as the Cotton Club and Connie 's Inn; in this period were the jazz clubs of the 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue of the favorite venues for jazz in New York.

1954 were Cecil Taylor and Dennis Charles Connie's Inn on a rock and roll sax player named Floyd Benny. The Connie 's Inn Downtown later moved to Broadway and 48th Street, but there was not much longer.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Fletcher Henderson Connie 's Inn Orchestra: Smack ( Decca Records)