Be-Bop, Be-Drunk: Minton's House Set To Play Again
Hard up to wet your whistle in Harlem? Well Gabriel, blow that horn. It's the rebirth of the be-bop womb. Minton's Playhouse is set to reopen for the first time since 1974, dig? And yes, the bar is stocked.
This Friday, May 19th, at 206-210 West 118th Street in Harlem, Mr. Earl Spain invites you, yes, that's you baby, to come celebrate the grand re-opening of the legendary Minton's Playhouse.
The Fur has a history of the joint shorter than an epic Ken Burns documentary:
In 1938 tenor Saxophonist Henry Minton opened Minton's Playhouse using a part of the dining area in Harlem's Cecil Hotel.
Although the club had a house band, it was the after hours sessions that earned the joint its reputation as a place of innovation. The house band would play earlier in the night. Later, jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Mile Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Thelonious Monk and other musicians of the time would experiment with their music, eventually giving birth to Be-Bop.
Minton's ran for 32 years straight before shutting down after it switched over to disco. The Cecil Hotel changed to. It became a single room occupancy hotel for men down on their luck. The neon signs for both places remain, with the Cecil Hotel's on the corner of 118th and St. Nick and Minton's on 118th between St. Nick and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Minton's is featured in the 116th Street 2/3 subway stop's glass mosaic.
In early February of 2001 the Cecil Hotel suffered a cigarette-sparked fire that injured twelve people and resulted in the death of at least one man. Had fire inspectors not been near-by when the fire broke out, the results may have been much worse.
Since closing in 1974, Minton's has seen a number of attempts by high-profile people to reopen the venue. Robert De Niro with restaurateurs Drew Neiporent and Melba Wilson (who opened the new Melba's on Frederick Douglass Boulevard) tried in 1996. In 1999, Wall Street hot-shot Kevin Ingram sought to reopen Minton's, but getting caught trying to launder $2.2 million in a federal arms money sting gave him little time to devote to the project.
Now it seems Minton's time to return is here. Harlem jazz club impresario Earl Spain and the owner of both Minton's and the Cecil Hotel, Housing Services Inc., will be opening the venue Friday, May 19th at 3:00pm. Live music begins, again, at 9:00pm.
Let Harlem Fur take you inside for a sneak peak.
The stage is ready...
and he liquor is waiting.
Comments
Hey! Way to go getting written up on Curbed. Good blog on that place too. I didn't even know about it.
Posted by: John Laker | May 19, 2006 02:09 PM
I was at the opening wuth my mother who was a barmaid for 14 years at Minton's. I'd like to share some photos of reopening night with you. How do I upload them to you?
Posted by: Kevin McGill | June 7, 2006 09:57 PM
If you can't upload them I would love you to e-mail them to me and I will upload for you. I was there that night and would love to seethe photos
Posted by: Candace | June 9, 2006 03:13 PM
Dear Sir/Madam:
I would like to share a small paragragh taken from the book, 'Bird The Legend of Charlie Parker' edited by Rpbert Reisner. This book is a summary of those great musicians who remember "Bird" Charlie Parker.
Earl Hines remembers Bird.
Earl Hines is being quoted, "I don't remember exactly when Charlie Parker joined my band. I do know it was in the forties, because it was in wartime, when we needed a tenor man. One of my musicians used to go down [to] Minton's quite a lot, and he wanted me to come down and listen to a saxophone player, and maybe he might fit the bill. But they said he plays alto. I said, that's not goin' to help us much. He said, "But he plays tenor too." That was Scoops Carry, our first alto man -- he's very prominent now; he's a lawyer in Chicago. His word was the authority, because he actually knew what it was about when it came to reed men, so I went down one night. Incidentally, Basie was with me, and we sat back in the corner until the young fellow came up. Meantime, he'd been playing so much horn that I said, "Well, who's that man?" The guy said, "Well, that's the boy I wanted you to hear. That's Charlie Parker!"
==========================
Dear Sir/Madam:
Imagine! Please!
...guys hanging out together in this historical club - Earl Hines, Count Basie, and Scoops Carry. Scoops was Hines lead alto wanting to bring Hines to this club so that he [Hines} could hear this young man. The rest became history -- Parker was later with the Hines' band where he further developed. This was big band ... bebop was shortly later.
This is more than just saying that Charlie Parker played her -- indeed he did! But more importantly, Minton's is where Parker was discovered!
Imagine ......these guys just hangin' -- right ... Scoops Carry wanting Hines to hear him. (Scoops would start the young Charlie Parker on tenor ... whereby then the young Parker would listen and be influenced by some of Scoops Carry's "phrasing."
Minton's is where this great young player C.Parker was discovered (leaving the McShann band to join the Hines band).
...thanks for your time.
Bird The Legend of Charlie Parker. Edited by Robert Reisner (copywrite 1962).
Section: Earl Hines remembers, p.110.
How nice it would be to frame this short paragraph for your wall.
The young C.Parker was discovered in this club.
Wow!
thanks for listening
good luck & many blessings with the rebirth of this club.
Posted by: George C. | June 24, 2006 05:02 PM
I was happy to see the write up for Earl's new bar. I live here in El Paso, TX and Earl is my father-in-law. Unfortunately, because of job commitments (government) his daughter, Janice and I were unable to make the opening, but we'll try to get there this year.
Again, thank you for the write up.
Posted by: Walter E Hunter | January 23, 2007 05:06 PM
Hi- I think you've done such an incredible in the renovation of this place-Oh if my Uncle Henry could see it now. Henry Minton is mu uncle he is my mothers fathers(Edward Mintons) Brother- I was born in 1955 originally from New York City. My memories of uncle Henry seeing him only on occasions when he used to visit my grandparents in Jamaica, Queens. and even then he was getting up in age- he used to call me "hey little girl". But my cousins and I as we got older heard the many stories about my uncle, and even then our parent were careful only to tell us the good thing especially about his music. We are having The Mintons Family reunion here in Atlanta,Ga July 2008-To honor The Minton-but you better believe the next reunion in New York I would love to come see History picked up and carried on to this day. Thank you for keeping it alive.
Sharon Ingram
Posted by: Sharon Ingram | December 14, 2007 11:48 PM
Hi, Sharon Ingram. My name is Rashaad Pearson, I am also related to Henry Minton. My Father is Charles Pearson who's mom is Martha Pearson(Minton) who's dad I believe is Edward Minton. That would make you my dad's first cousin. I have been looking up family trying to learn the different histories to see where I come from. I have come to find that I have a very rich strong background and it's very exciting. I am heavily influenced in music myself so I was really proud to find out about the jazz club owned by my great great uncle haha. Well anyway I can be reached at Rashaadhp@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
Rashaad Pearson
Posted by: Rashaad Pearson | January 15, 2008 05:27 AM