[Charlie Parker With Lennie Tristano Complete Recordings Rar
Kody Coste
1) Where exactly was the Argyle Show Lounge in Chicago? There are apparently a couple of live Bird recordings done there, and this was also the scene of Bird urinating in a phone booth in the club (and it may even have happened twice according to some sources). I'm assuming it was on Argyle Street, and I get the impression maybe near the El stop there, but does anyone have the exact address? I ask because I live nearby and was just wondering where this old haunt of Bird's was. If anyone has any info about when this club operated or any other details I'd be curious to know.
2) I was just re-reading the Teddy Reig interview published in the Complete Savoy Recordings box. Teddy mentions a "famous" photograph of Bird's coffin being carried out of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and its entire weight being on the shoulder of Reig, who was one of the pallbearers. Anyone familiar with this photo and know where it's published? I don't recall ever having seen it.
Teddy Reig and Leonard Feather are among the people seen carrying the coffin. Other pallbearers were Louis Bellson, CharlieShavers, Lennie Tristano, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt. Charles Mingus also appears on the photo.
If you live in Chicago, you should easily be able to get hold of a couple of books from the library that I hope will be helpful. They're both by Dempsey J Travis: "The autobiography of black jazz"; and "The autobiography of black Chicago". Travis is/was a real estate man (after having been a bandleader in the '30s) and the first of these books (the only one my local library can get) is written very much from a real estate man's point of view. I can't imagine that the other is any different.
Argyle is a street on the North side of Chicago (between Lawrence and Foster). This area is called Uptown. I believe the Argyle Lounge was at the intersection of Argyle and Broadway or maybe the intersection of Argyle and Clark. Not too far from the Green Mill and the Aragon Ballroom.
Regarding 1), thanks Chuck and MagGold. I'm guessing Broadway and Argyle is more likely, at least based on the two neighborhoods as they exist today. Argyle has a little shopping strip along the block between Broadway and Sheridan. It's largely Chinese/Vietnamese shops, groceries and restaurants today but I could easily envision it having been a lot of bars and clubs at one time. I'd still like to figure out the exact location if possible. I wonder if Larry will chime in, or maybe I can contact Jim Newman and see if he goes back that far. Oh, and I do have Dempsey Travis's Black Jazz book. I remember when I read it there was a reference to something like the "5100 Broadway" club. It all of a sudden struck me that he was probably talking about 5100 North Broadway, which was two doors away from the apt where I was sitting and reading the book at the time. I'll have to take another look and see if he mentions the Argyle Lounge, though if I remember there's not much if anything in the way of an index.
Regarding 2), thanks brownie. I have that book too, so I'll take a look. I've undoubtedly seen the photo and just forgotten it - you know how it is, 50th birthday encroaching, memory starting to fade and all...
Also checked the blurb about the 5100 club. It explicitly gives the address as 5100 North Broaday, a few blocks up the street from where Chuck is likely placing the Argyle Show Lounge, and mentions that Horace Henderson played there for a year and Danny Thomas was the MC at the time.
Thanks for that quote Larry. Scary thing is, for those who haven't tried it, I was actually able to find and read that quote using google's book search and a search term something like "charlie parker" argyle.
I revisited the question of the Argyle Show Lounge's location after all these years. In case anyone is interested, I found an old directory via Google Books that listed the address at 1125 W Argyle. The building is indeed adjacent (to the west) of the El tracks on the south side of Argyle. It's now an Asian gift shop.
It must have been a pretty hip place at one time, though the management evidently left something to be desired. Jimmy Heath mentions in his autobiography playing there with Howard McGhee. The band was staying on the south side, and when the gig was over the payment check turned out to be rubber. They returned to the club where the people insisted the check was good and backed up their claim by displaying a pistol. The band was stranded in Chicago until the musician's union was able to get their money for them.
I have to remember to stop in and see if the famous phone booth is still there. There are some Bird recordings alleged to have originated from there, but Lawrence Koch in Yardbird Suite says they are probably from a year or more after the November 1947 gig there.
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