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Jazz

Manhattan ‘Flash’ Culture: Madams and Sporting Men

April 4, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Harris’s ListThroughout the nineteenth century, prostitution was rife in American cities. In 1820 there were an estimated two hundred brothels in New York, growing to more than six hundred after the Civil War. By the early 1840s the city was the nation’s whoring capital, its own Gomorrah.

Most houses of assignation before the Civil War were owned and controlled by women. Some madams made spectacular careers, nobody more so than Fanny White whose Mercer Street brothel was, from 1851 onward, a meeting place for Congressmen, dignitaries and diplomats – a Manhattan whoreocracy. [Read more…] about Manhattan ‘Flash’ Culture: Madams and Sporting Men

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Cultural History, Gambling, Jazz, Manhattan, Musical History, New York City, Social History, Vice, womens history

Banjo Pickers and Harlem-On-The-Seine

March 14, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

The Creole BaniaThe modern banjo derives from mid-1600 instruments that had been used in the Caribbean by enslaved people taken from West Africa. The original version was made from a hollowed-out (hard-skinned) gourd and a varying number of horsehair strings. [Read more…] about Banjo Pickers and Harlem-On-The-Seine

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: art, Art History, Harlem, Jazz, Music, Musical History, Performing Arts

Lipstick & Lady Chatterly: Modernism, Feminism, and Cosmetics

February 28, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Helena Rubinstein 1908Chaja Rubinstein was born in December 1872 in a Krakow ghetto, the eldest of eight girls. Having escaped from an arranged Orthodox Jewish marriage, she would become a dominant personality in business circles in London, Paris, and New York. [Read more…] about Lipstick & Lady Chatterly: Modernism, Feminism, and Cosmetics

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: art, Art History, Jazz, Musical History, New York City, womens history

New Book About 1940s-1950s Jazz Clubs

January 11, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Sittin InBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

The new book Sittin’ In: Jazz Clubs of the 1940s and 1950s (Harper Design, 2020), by Grammy-winning historian, archivist, author, and record executive Jeff Gold offers a new look inside the jazz clubs from this era across the United States. Drawing on a trove of photos and memorabilia, Sittin’ In gives a glimpse at a world that was rich in culture, music, dining, fashion, and more. [Read more…] about New Book About 1940s-1950s Jazz Clubs

Filed Under: Arts, Books, History, New York City Tagged With: art, Books, Jazz, Music, Musical History, Performing Arts, Photography

Harlem’s “Black Beauty” Mills; London’s Josephine Baker

December 7, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 3 Comments

Bassanos portrait of Lord KitchenerBorn in 1799, Clemente Bassano (the family name originates from the Veneto region of Italy) settled in London and started his career as a fishmonger in Soho. By 1825 he ran a warehouse from Jermyn Street, St James’s, importing almonds, oil, capers, and macaroni.

His daughter Louise was an opera singer who toured with Franz Liszt on his London visit in 1840/1. Her brother Alessandro became a high society photographer with a studio in Regent Street. His portrait of Horatio Kitchener was used during the First World War for an iconic recruitment poster. [Read more…] about Harlem’s “Black Beauty” Mills; London’s Josephine Baker

Filed Under: Arts, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: art, Art History, Black History, Dance, Harlem, Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, Musical History, Performing Arts, Theatre, Women, womens history

Slang, Stirrups, Paris in the 20s, and the Invention of the Bloody Mary

November 9, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

An American Jockey paintingAlthough much remains unclear about the origins of Cockney rhyming slang, there is a consensus that it stems from London’s East End, dates back to the 1840s, and is alive and thriving. One slang expression reads “on one’s tod,” meaning: on one’s own; all alone. The phrase is a shortened version of the original “on one’s Tod Sloan.”

In full, these four words offer a multi-colored mosaic of socio-cultural events involving Manhattan, London, and Paris. [Read more…] about Slang, Stirrups, Paris in the 20s, and the Invention of the Bloody Mary

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Cultural History, Horses, Jazz, liquor, Literature, Manhattan, Music, Musical History, New York Symphony, Social History, sports, Sports History

The Saxophone: Born In Belgium, Raised In The USA

October 18, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 2 Comments

bronze statue of Adolphe SaxSince the saxophone was invented and patented by a young man from French-speaking Dinant, in Belgium’s Walloon Region, American musicians have paid credit to the instrument by producing memorable performances which include John Coltrane’s “Love Supreme,” Dino Soldo’s smooth jazz solos, or Clarence Clemons’s relentless drive.

Over time, the sax has found its way into almost every genre of music with one exception. The saxophone is not part of the orchestral repertoire. It was and remains a rogue instrument. [Read more…] about The Saxophone: Born In Belgium, Raised In The USA

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: art, Art History, Jazz, Military History, Music, Musical History, New York City

Audio Technology, Trademarks and A Terrier Named Nipper

September 28, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and ArtThe Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, at Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, was founded in 1859 by inventor and industrialist Peter Cooper, a progressive member of New York’s Board of Aldermen.

The initiative was inspired by the state-sponsored École Polytechnique in Paris (founded in 1794). Cooper’s ideal was to create an institution that would be open to all, and independent of race, religion, sex, or social status. The history of the gramophone is associated with two of Cooper’s former students who overcame hardship through education. [Read more…] about Audio Technology, Trademarks and A Terrier Named Nipper

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Art History, Jazz, Manhattan, Music, Musical History, New York Telephone, Radio History, telephones

Al Jolson and Harding’s ‘Front Porch Campaign’

July 24, 2020 by Maury Thompson 1 Comment

Al Jolson speaking during Warren G Harding's front porch campaign in 1920Charles Evans Hughes and Al Jolson shared a small stage at Marion, Ohio in 1920 as part of Republican presidential candidate Warren Harding’s “front porch” campaign.

Hughes, a lawyer in New York City at the time, and “a troupe” of Big Apple entertainers traveled on the same train from New York City to Marion the morning of Aug. 24. [Read more…] about Al Jolson and Harding’s ‘Front Porch Campaign’

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Charles Evans Hughes, Cultural History, Glens Falls, Jazz, Musical History, New York City, Political History, politics

Ma Meyrick, Tallulah Bankhead and Jazz Age London

June 29, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Kate MeyrickA significant aspect of the 1920s in London was the proliferation of unlicensed clubs that operated on the fringe of criminality. Lawmakers were determined to crack down on out-of-hours drinking, but youngsters beat them by organising all-night bottle parties.

Held on private premises, the host was expected to provide live music, a dance floor (the Charleston was the craze of the age), waiters, and suitable surroundings. Queen of the bottle party was Ma Meyrick, an Irish immigrant who was famous for introducing American jazz musicians and flouting licensing laws. [Read more…] about Ma Meyrick, Tallulah Bankhead and Jazz Age London

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: art, Art History, Cultural History, Jazz, Music, Musical History, New York City, Performing Arts, womens history

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