theoszczepanski:

Fats Waller was kidnapped in Chicago leaving a performance in 1926. Four men bundled him into a car and took him to the Hawthorne Inn, owned by Al Capone. Waller was ordered inside the building, and found a party in full swing. Gun to his back, he was pushed towards a piano, and told to play. A terrified Waller realized he was the “surprise guest” at Capone’s birthday party, and took comfort that the gangsters did not intend to kill him. According to rumor, Waller played for three days. When he left the Hawthorne Inn, he was very drunk, extremely tired, and had earned thousands of dollars in cash from Capone and other party-goers as tips.

What a story…

salsmineo:

“After Billie Holiday’s funeral service, there was such a quietness over these musicians, such a multitude of them there, and we just stood around like in awe and we filed out of the church and stood on the corners for a few minutes until everybody got out and we just quietly just stepped away into the crowd. It was not the usual thing of musicians going to a bar…having a nice drink or a type of New Orleans festivity. It was just dead quiet and sadness.”

RIP Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959)

hennyproud:

Billie Holiday at record producer Harry Lim’s jam session, photographed by Life photographer Charles Peterson, c. 1939

Other musicians in attendance include Duke Ellington, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Johnny Hodgers, J.C. Higginbotham, Hot Lips Page and Chu Berry among others.

twostriptechnicolor:

Big bands in color, 1934 – 1943

Featuring Glen Gray and the Casa Loma orchestra, Kay Kyser, Benny Carter, the Benny Goodman Quartet, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and Ted Fiorito.

(I originally wanted to do a video montage of these and other scenes, but I couldn’t think of a tune that fit all the clips.)