In the mid-1950s Cafe Bohemia was one of the most happening jazz clubs in New York City—a Greenwich Village club that caught the vibe of Manhattan’s thriving art and intellectual scene. On any given night a visitor might hear Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, or Kenny Dorham holding down the stage, with future cult figure Herbie Nichols taking a turn as intermission pianist. Jazz greats frequented Cafe Bohemia as listeners, too—Sonny Rollins, Max Roach and Thelonious Monk among them, checking out the music in the middle of the Greenwich Village scene. Other patrons included novelist Jack Kerouac and painter Larry Rivers. Cafe Bohemia’s the place where saxophonist Cannonball Adderley made his electrifying national-scene debut, Miles Davis got his first great group up to speed, and half a dozen standout records were made.
The jazz played at Cafe Bohemia was progressive hardbop, often in a minor key, and executed at world-class levels of passion and precision. “Live at Cafe Bohemia” features live recordings made at the club by Mingus, Davis, Blakey, Dorham’s short-lived Jazz Prophets group, and pianists Randy Weston and George Wallington.
Jazz the facts: Oscar Pettiford’s jazz standard “Bohemia After Dark” was titled in honor of the club (Pettiford gigged for awhile as the club’s house band director).
Quotes from Ted Panken’s June 2005 Downbeat article, “When Giants Walked the Village”:
The jazz played at Cafe Bohemia was progressive hardbop, often in a minor key, and executed at world-class levels of passion and precision. “Live at Cafe Bohemia” features live recordings made at the club by Mingus, Davis, Blakey, Dorham’s short-lived Jazz Prophets group, and pianists Randy Weston and George Wallington.
Jazz the facts: Oscar Pettiford’s jazz standard “Bohemia After Dark” was titled in honor of the club (Pettiford gigged for awhile as the club’s house band director).
Quotes from Ted Panken’s June 2005 Downbeat article, “When Giants Walked the Village”:
