My Visit to Minton's Playhouse on 11/24/07

[makpjazz57]

Hi All,

I finally realized a dream of mine and visited Minton's Playhouse this past weekend. I've shared my few pictures with some friends and at another bulletin board and thought there might be some interest here. Minton's closed in 1974 and reopened within the last couple of years. I believe the basic structure is exactly the same, though my very reliable sources (including the bartender at Minton's) said the bar used to be on the wall opposite where it is now. The bandstand is still in the same place - under the famous Charles Graham mural (1948). So, here's my few pictures of Minton's and one of the Hotel Cecil (Minton's is part of the Hotel Cecil). Note: The Cecil is now a single room occupancy residence/home. Both Minton's and the Cecil are Historic National Landmarks and can't be "messed with." ;-)

I visited Minton's around 4 p.m. and the place was basically empty; music doesn't start until 9 p.m. The bartender was gracious and even turned on the lights above the bandstand so my pictures would come out better - that's me on the piano bench. By the way, the piano was donated by the Jazz Foundation of America. They received the piano from the great pianist, Chris Anderson.

Here's a picture of the full mural/bandstand:

I took this picture while standing on the bandstand; gives you an idea of how small/narrow Minton's is/was:

Last, a picture of the Hotel Cecil's sign (with the 118th/St. Nicholas Ave street sign, too):

If anyone here has any Minton's stories, please share.

Thanks,

Marla

[GA Russell]

Thanks Marla, particularly for the shot from the bandstand. I can't imagine there are enough seats to be able to pay musicians. Of course, the deal with the club originally was that it didn't pay the jam session musicians, right?.

[B. Goren.]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[makpjazz57]

Thanks Marla, particularly for the shot from the bandstand. I can't imagine there are enough seats to be able to pay musicians. Of course, the deal with the club originally was that it didn't pay the jam session musicians, right?.

I think you are correct. Henry Minton hired Teddy Hill to manage the club and I think the musicians were provided food only and from what I've read, the food was killin'!

I treasure the Jerry Newman recordings of Charlie Christian at Minton's, as well as the Blue Note release, "Up at Minton's" recorded live at Minton's by Stanley Turrentine. Also, the Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis/Johnny Griffin recordings at Minton's.

Flickr.com has some pics posted from opening night at Minton's a couple of years ago and the place is packed, with most folks standing. You are right...not a lotta seats.

Thanks for your comments.

[makpjazz57]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you. Happy to share!

Marla

[BruceH]

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for the information and cool pictures!

For ages I'd just assumed that Minton's had either been torn down or turned into something else.

...And that mural is nice!

[sidewinder]

Thanks for sharing ! Nice to know the two places are in good shape and being preserved.

[robviti]

here's the link to their website: uptown at minton's

[Dan Gould]

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for the information and cool pictures!

For ages I'd just assumed that Minton's had either been torn down or turned into something else.

...And that mural is nice!

Being a regular NYT reader, I knew that Minton's had been re-born, but its very nice for you to share such terrific photos. The mural is nice, and if I remember correctly, it required a significant amount of work to make it presentable after many, many years of neglect.

[brownie]

Thanks for sharing the visit.

I have never been there but the place looks so familiar!

[makpjazz57]

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for the information and cool pictures!

For ages I'd just assumed that Minton's had either been torn down or turned into something else.

...And that mural is nice!

Being a regular NYT reader, I knew that Minton's had been re-born, but its very nice for you to share such terrific photos. The mural is nice, and if I remember correctly, it required a significant amount of work to make it presentable after many, many years of neglect.

Minton's has survived at least 2 fires. One had to have been pre-1948, as the mural in Minton's today replaced another mural that was damaged due to fire. Artist Charles Graham signed the mural there today and also wrote the year, 1948 under his name. Then, sometime in the 70's (maybe right before the closing in 1974?) there was yet another fire. This time, the mural was restored. I was up close and it looks great for a mural that is 1 year shy of 60 years old!

I can certainly understand why folks would think Minton's no longer existed since its doors had been closed for so long. I did enough research on line and walked past the exterior about 6 years ago, so I knew that at least the Minton's outside neon lights/sign was still there. Also, there is what I believe to be an American Masters/PBS documentary on Monk and a great deal of it was done inside Minton's, showing the inside to be basically a shell - stripped down walls, messed up wainscotting (from the looks of the wainscotting in the video, was probably somewhat fancy, no tables or chairs or bar. The documentary folks had moved a gorgeous piano into Minton's (nothing else there except the piano and the mural) and interviewed both Randy Weston and Barry Harris from within Minton's.. I can't put my hands on the video, but I'd say it was done in the 1980s or maybe early 1990s?

[makpjazz57]

Thanks for sharing ! Nice to know the two places are in good shape and being preserved.

You are welcome. Yes, in fact, when I called the Hotel Cecil to ask if I could take a look inside Minton's (around 2001), at first, the folks I spoke with were less than nice. Apparently, lots of sneaky developers were looking at the Hotel Cecil/Minton's as a possible purchase propery and perhaps wanted to tear it down/build something new. Fortunately, that did not happen.

Marla

[sidewinder]

Sounds like the place is in good hands. Long may it continue !

[makpjazz57]

here's the link to their website: uptown at minton's

Here is William Gottlieb's wonderful photo outside of Minton's (maybe 1947) with Monk, Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, Teddy Hill. The outside looks similar, although there is no longer an awning and a handicap access ramp has replaced the stairs. Also, I believe the neon sign you see in the picture jazzshrink posted above is not the original and I think the original neon lights/letters were smaller. I do think the lights there today were replaced pre-1974 fire/closing, though.

Marla

[makpjazz57]

here's the link to their website: uptown at minton's

Here is William Gottlieb's wonderful photo outside of Minton's (maybe 1947) with Monk, Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, Teddy Hill. The outside looks similar, although there is no longer an awning and a handicap access ramp has replaced the stairs. Also, I believe the neon sign you see in the picture jazzshrink posted above is not the original and I think the original neon lights/letters were smaller. I do think the lights there today were replaced pre-1974 fire/closing, though.

Also, here's a link to a wonderful article by William Gottlieb with a bit of history surrounding the famous picture taken outside of Minton's. I believe this originally appeared in Down Beat around 1947:

Visit My Website

Here's another Gottlieb pic from that day - note the mural in the background is different and the picture is dated Sept 1947...that's Howard McGhee leaning over the piano.

There are more pictures at that site from that day in 1947. Lots of Minton's history out there!

Marla

Marla

[JSngry]

Thanks big for those photos.

The old Recovery Room in Dallas was built a lot like that, a long, narrow "shotgun" structure, where the action was front-to-back instead of side-to-side. I suspect that a lot of older jazz clubs in America were as well. Not a particularly "glamorous" floorplan, but as far as meetin the ends of giving people a place to come, get some drinks, hear some music, and hang out for whatever reason, it worked just as well, if not better, than many a more "fancy" layout.

For the purpose of shortest-distance-between-two-points-music-making-amongst-the-people, gimme one of them old-school "bars" over one of these new club/restaurant/health spas/lifestyle centers/tourist traps any day. Them's the kind of places that nobody goes to unless they really want to, and believe me, that matters all the way around.

[ValerieB]

as Marla already knows, i have some great personal memories of evenings at Minton's. after meeting my husband-to-be at Slug's in 1965, he invited me up to Minton's the following night for his gig there. from that night on, we were together for many years, dating, engaged, married, divorced, and family/friends for the rest of his life. one of the most amusing things about the club were the characters that flocked there, including the "boosters" who would walk through the bar area almost every night selling just about anything you could imagine, but mostly clothes and jewelry, as i remember it. needless to say, i enjoyed some incredibly fabulous music there between 1965 and 1970, when we moved to L.A. teddy hill was always nervously chewing his gum a mile a minute and pacing back and forth, either inside or outside the club. i'm sure he probably had lots to contend with!! but i think his nature was also bordering on the very nervous. as has already been mentioned, the food was fabulous. we would usually go up there early in order to get some of the soul food before it sold out!! (pun intended!) it was a woman chef who really put the pots on. another memory i have is of frank foster sitting alone early in the evening in the largest back booth with all his score sheets laid out on the table. i had never before seen so many being worked on. needless to say, i'm grateful for the wonderful memories. when my ex-husband died, we had the hearse and the entire procession drive past minton's!

[makpjazz57]

Thanks big for those photos.

The old Recovery Room in Dallas was built a lot like that, a long, narrow "shotgun" structure, where the action was front-to-back instead of side-to-side. I suspect that a lot of older jazz clubs in America were as well. Not a particularly "glamorous" floorplan, but as far as meetin the ends of giving people a place to come, get some drinks, hear some music, and hang out for whatever reason, it worked just as well, if not better, than many a more "fancy" layout.

For the purpose of shortest-distance-between-two-points-music-making-amongst-the-people, gimme one of them old-school "bars" over one of these new club/restaurant/health spas/lifestyle centers/tourist traps any day. Them's the kind of places that nobody goes to unless they really want to, and believe me, that matters all the way around.

You are very welcome and I sure understand what you are saying. The neighborhood-type bars can have the most interesting people. Of course, Minton's does get its share of tourists and the bartender told us tour buses even stop there from time to time. Also, a guy named Gordon runs the Big Apple Tours and I know Minton's is one of his stops, as he was kind enough to email me with progress during Minton's renovations. His website is http://www.bigapplejazz.com

Minton's had a great vibe and if I lived in NYC, I'd frequent the club. As we were leaving some folks came in - seemed to be locals/regulars and one gentleman started to talk with us about Minton's in the 70's. Minton's reminded me of a jazz club I spent some time in while living in NJ - Sparky J's, which was right across the street from the more famous Key Club in Newark. Jimmy McGriff, Charles Earland, others frequented these clubs and the vibe was always friendly and that of a constant party goin' on! Both of these clubs were relatively small, too.

Marla

[makpjazz57]

as Marla already knows, i have some great personal memories of evenings at Minton's. after meeting my husband-to-be at Slug's in 1965, he invited me up to Minton's the following night for his gig there. from that night on, we were together for many years, dating, engaged, married, divorced, and family/friends for the rest of his life. one of the most amusing things about the club were the characters that flocked there, including the "boosters" who would walk through the bar area almost every night selling just about anything you could imagine, but mostly clothes and jewelry, as i remember it. needless to say, i enjoyed some incredibly fabulous music there between 1965 and 1970, when we moved to L.A. teddy hill was always nervously chewing his gum a mile a minute and pacing back and forth, either inside or outside the club. i'm sure he probably had lots to contend with!! but i think his nature was also bordering on the very nervous. as has already been mentioned, the food was fabulous. we would usually go up there early in order to get some of the soul food before it sold out!! (pun intended!) it was a woman chef who really put the pots on. another memory i have is of frank foster sitting alone early in the evening in the largest back booth with all his score sheets laid out on the table. i had never before seen so many being worked on. needless to say, i'm grateful for the wonderful memories. when my ex-husband died, we had the hearse and the entire procession drive past minton's!

Valerie,

How could I have missed this wonderful post regarding Minton's! Your story about Frank Foster really paints a picture of how relaxed and musician-friendly Minton's was. Thank you for sharing with us.

Marla

[Big Al]

I love that picture from the bandstand. It's fun to think that we're looking out from the same perspective as Stanley Turrentine, Grant Green, Horace Parlan, Monk, Christian, etc etc. Great photos and great post!

[Chuck Nessa]

Very nice indeed.

[makpjazz57]

Thanks everyone. It makes my day to know I've finally shared something of worth with the group.

If any group of folks would know the significance of the visit to Minton's Playhouse, you guys/ladies would!

Happy holidays,

Marla