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Nightclubs

Gordon’s Gin – Regency Liquors – The Half Note Club – Chattanooga, TN

© Frank H. Jump

© Frank H. Jump

© Frank H. Jump

502 E MLK Blvd © Frank H. Jump

This awning was full of mold an inch deep and the smell coming out of the building of both the Half Note Club and Regency Liquors indicated they were closed for a number of years.

For decades, Ninth Street was the hub of the black community, home to black-owned retail shops, nightclubs and businesses. Bessie Smith sang there as a child and teenager, and it attracted many of biggest black entertainers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and Nat “King” Cole, who would stay in the Martin Hotel. Clubs like the Whole Note and The Half Note were full of blues and jazz.

East Ninth Street was renamed M.L King Boulevard in 1981. – Chattanooga Now, March 2014

According to a thread in Old Bars, Chattanooga;

The Whole Note started out as a top of the line club for R&B entertainment and the Half Note was private for the who’s who’s in African American businessmen and politicians. Charles Bryant was the owner.

Uptown Correspondent – Iman R. Abdulfattah – Minton’s Playhouse – Up At Minton’s, Romare Bearden – Harlem, NYC

© Iman R. Abdulfattah

This old dive in Harlem has been shuttered for about as long as it had been open. Yet Minton’s Playhouse will always be known as the cradle of bebop, where the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker jammed into the night….Efforts to revive Minton’s Playhouse, on West 118th Street in Harlem, have sputtered throughout the years. – from Hoping a Good Meal Revives a Harlem Jazz Spot  By Kia Gregory for The New York Times, Published: January 6, 2013

Up At Minton’s (1980) taken by Iman R. Abdulfattah @ Flomenhaft Gallery

Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an African-American artist and writer. He worked in several media including cartoons, oils, collage. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden moved to New York City at a very young age and went on to graduate from NYU in 1935.Wikipedia

There is lilt
Tempo
Cadence
A language of darkness
Darkness known
Darkness sharpened at Minton’s
Darkness lightened at the Cotton Club
Sent flying from Abyssinian Baptist
To the Apollo.

– Excerpt taken from Walter Dean Myer’s epic poem, Harlem (Caldecott Honor Book) 1997, beautifully illustrated by his son Christopher Myers.

Chad’s 60 South – Prince Mongo’s Planet – Williams Cotton Company – Memphis, TN

© Vincenzo Aiosa

© Vincenzo Aiosa

© Frank H. Jump

Close up of door @ Chad's 60 South © Frank H. Jump

prince mongo's planet. memphis jan 2 2006

Xiaoqichao's Photos @ Buzznet Jan 2006

Lady Shake – Praat en Danscafé – Girls Only – Antwerpen, België

Talk & Dance Café - Antwerp, Belgium © Frank H. Jump

Moulin Rouge – Boulevard de Clichy – Paris, FR

© Maria Bianca Nevada

© Maria Bianca Nevada

© Maria Bianca Nevada

© Maria Bianca Nevada

© Maria Bianca Nevada

Club Privé – Lesbian Girl’s – Boulevard de Clichy – Paris, France

© Frank H. Jump

© Frank H. Jump