Big Beat Steve Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) Can anybody identify the musicians shown in this picture? http://www.shorpy.com/node/6866?size=_original No idea about the singer, but somehow the pianist bears some resemblance to Cliff Jackson, the sax man looks a bit like Jack McVea, and I wonder if the drummer could be Jackie "Moms" Mabley on some "special assignment". But I doubt it's any of them. Anybody got any clue? And BTW, you better disregard the comments relating to that pic on that website. Most contributors totally miss the point of the image, it seems, and even fail to see the picture within the framework of ITS time instead of judging it from today's point of view (all that transgender nonsense, etc.). Edited September 24, 2009 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave James Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 I'm pretty sure the MC is Michael Vick. Up over and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted September 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) I'm pretty sure the MC is Michael Vick. Up over and out. Caught in a time warp? :D And seriously ...? Edited September 24, 2009 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 Wasn't Cafe Society in New York? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bichos Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 i can only say that the photo was taken at 10:37. but i think that doesn´t help.... keep boppin´ marcel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 I believe there's a Cafe Society in Chicago NOW, but I didn't know there was one then. . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 Since the photo is captioned ""Tavern on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois", I have to wonder if "Cafe Society" is not a broadly descriptive term used as a caption by the poster of the image instead of the naming of an actual venue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcello Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 It is Chicago. I don't believe that the famous New York Cafe' Society had a mural of Snow White! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 I actually think that there were two Cafe Society restaurants in NY, one uptown and one downtown. Barney Josephson re-opened it downtown in the 1970s, and I met Mary Lou Williams there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted September 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 (edited) Somehow I seemed to remember one of the "name" clubs from New York had a sort of spinoff in Chicago and it might well have been Cafe Society (disregarding the one that exists today) so I did not question that caption but I have been unable to find any written proof of this so my memory may be playing tricks on me. Maybe it really is so that the title of that Shorpy photo was not meant to hint at that particular club but rather at the "society" to be found in (night club) "cafes". Yet this leaves the question about the musicians' identitfy unanswered. The recent comment on Shorpy claiming that the dude at the mike looks like Earl Hines and naming a lot of women drummers cited in "Swing Shift" certainly is way off the mark. BTW, I feel the attire of the woman drummer isn't all that out of the ordinary for those times and in those settings (check period photographs of Moms Mabley and Gladys Bentley, for example). Any clues, anybody? Any experts on black Chicago jazz of the 40s around here? I guess if there'd be an extremely thoroughly document book like "Before Motown" (on pre-1960 Detroit jazz) the wuestion would be far easier to settle. Edited September 25, 2009 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 (edited) on robert campbell's pages there are some mentions of a Cafe De Society at 309 East Garfield in Chicago in the Forties... if it really bugs you i would consider sending an email there (though your picture is slightly before the time frame of that page...) here, for instance http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/hytone.html "The original address of the Melody Lane Recording Company was 323-B East 55th Street, Chicago---the address of the Melody Lane Record Shop, owned by Williams. In the mid-1940s, 55th Street, also called Garfield Boulevard, was one of the peppiest streets for South Side nightlife. The major clubs it boasted included the Club DeLisa (5521 South State), Cafe De Society (309 East Garfield), the Hurricane Show Lounge (349 East Garfield), and the Rhumboogie Club (343 East Garfield). The last (for details see our Rhumboogie page) was probably the most prestigious of the clubs on the street, though it was on its way downhill by then. Thus, Williams was placed right in the center of a hot entertainment area, where he probably was inspired to record some of the talent he saw in the nearby clubs." Edited September 25, 2009 by Niko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted September 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Holeee sheeeet .... I had checked this very website on Chicage postwar R&B labels (Red Saunders Archive) this morning in the hope of finding something there but word searches did not yield anything so I gave up ... Thanks for checking this, Niko!! So let's assume this really MAY have been the CLub Society in CHI. And no, it doesn't bug me beyond that statement. Anyway, my main question was about the identity of the musicians. THAT's what I'd like to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Holeee sheeeet .... I had checked this very website on Chicage postwar R&B labels (Red Saunders Archive) this morning in the hope of finding something there but word searches did not yield anything so I gave up ... the trick is to enter something like this into google... "cafe society" site:clemson.edu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted September 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Yeah, thanks, I hadn't thought of that sort of restricted googling (though I use it VERY often for other searches). My site search on the site itself ("search on this site") after having opened that website had not yielded any matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.