Black Hawk (nightclub)
 | |
| Location | Turk Street and Hyde Street Tenderloin District  San Francisco, California, United States |
|---|---|
| Type | Nightclub |
| Genre(s) | Jazz, Bebop |
| Capacity | 200 |
| Opened | 1949 |
| Closed | 1963 |
The Black Hawk was a San Francisco nightclub which featured live jazz performances during its period of operation from 1949 to 1963. It was located on the corner of Turk Street and Hyde Street in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. Guido Caccienti owned the club along with Johnny and Helen Noga.
History
The Black Hawk's intimate atmosphere was ideal for small jazz groups. In 1959, the fees that the club was able to pay jazz acts rose from less than $300 to more than $3,000 a week.[1] A number of musicians recorded albums at the club, including Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Thelonious Monk, Shelly Manne and Mongo Santamaría.
Billie Holiday and Lester Young played their last West Coast club dates here and the Modern Jazz Quartet played its first.[2] When Charlie Parker was supposed to be opening across town at the Say When Club, he could be found instead jamming at the Hawk. Other notable musicians who appeared there include Dave Brubeck,[3] John Coltrane,[4] Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz,[5] Mary Stallings, Johnny Mathis,[6] Art Blakey, Shorty Rogers, Art Pepper, Art Farmer, Gerry Mulligan,[7] Horace Parlan and Russ Freeman. Arthur "Art" Tatum mainly did concert work in the last 18 months of his life; he played the Black Hawk in 1955.[8]
Sunday afternoon sessions at the Black Hawk offered blowing time to young musicians. After a young sextet working at the Black Hawk brought Johnny Mathis in for a Sunday afternoon session, Helen Noga, co-owner of the club, decided that she wanted to manage his career. In early September 1955, Mathis landed a job singing weekends at Ann Dee's 440 Club. After repeated attempts, Helen convinced George Avakian, then head of Popular Music A&R at Columbia, to see him. Avakian came to the club, heard Mathis sing and sent the now famous telegram to his record company: "Have found phenomenal 19-year-old boy who could go all the way."[9]
Billie Holiday's old friend Dr. Herbert Henderson visited Billie when she played dates at the Black Hawk during September 1958. Immediately after the Black Hawk booking, she took part in the first Monterey Jazz Festival on the final evening, Sunday October 5, 1958."[10] For several months each year, Brubeck, who got his real start at the Black Hawk, returned for extended series of appearances, playing for consecutive weekends, sometimes for three months at a time.[11]
NICK ESPOSITO: and his sextette appeared many times at the Black Hawk during the 50's. Nick was know for his unique guitar jazz stylings. He toured with his band during the mid 40's through the late 50's and had hit records such as “Empty Ballroom Blues” “Penny” “Fat Cat Boogie” and others. He always enjoyed coming home to San Francisco where he resided and the Black Hawk Nightclub. In 1959 he moved to Las Vegas and continued his career with the Nick Esposito Quartette and appeared at most of the major strip hotels until his untimely death in 1966, at the age of 52.
Cal Tjader's A Night at the Blackhawk (1958), recorded during a long holiday season gig at San Francisco's Black Hawk club, Tjader patched together a superb program split between straight-ahead jazz and Afro-Cuban workouts. At the time, Tjader had both Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaría in his rhythm section; Bobo handles the trap drums during the bop numbers, while the Latin tunes find Willie and Mongo creating even more heat on the timbales and congas. Pianist Vince Guaraldi swings like a madman on "A Night in Tunisia." Other tracks include "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", "Blue and Sentimental", Bill B.", "Stompin' at the Savoy", and "I Love Paris." The Black Hawk was breaking in some excellent new stereo recording equipment at the time of this gig; hence the clear, sharp sound.[12]
Shelly Manne's Quintet, At the Blackhawk, Vol. 1 - 4, was recorded extensively at San Francisco's Black Hawk club for three nights in 1959. Four live albums were recorded, later expanded to five CDs. With trumpeter Joe Gordon, tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca, pianist Victor Feldman, and bassist Monty Budwig, the quintet was certainly capable of playing high-quality jazz. Highlights include "Step Lightly", "What's New", "Vamp's Blues"). These are lengthy performances: "Vamp's Blues," for example, is over 19 minutes long. The third volume adds a long version of "Whisper Not" to the original rendition, Cole Porter's "I Am in Love" as well as the spontaneous 18-minute "Black Hawk Blues". As with the first three sets, the fourth volume adds an alternate take (of "Cabu") to the original program ("Cabu", "Just Squeeze Me", "Nightingale", and a full-length version of their theme, "A Gem from Tiffany").
Thelonious Monk Quartet At the Blackhawk (1960), also includes tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, bassist John Ore and (for a brief period) drummer Billy Higgins and is augmented on this live session by two guests: trumpeter Joe Gordon and the tenor sax of Harold Land. The extra horns uplift the date and add some surprising moments to what otherwise might have been a conventional, but still spirited, live session. Highlights include "Let's Call This", "Four in One" and a swinging version of "I'm Getting Sentimental over You." Other tracks "Epistrophy", "Evidence", "San Francisco Holiday", "Round Midnight", "Epistrophy (Closing Theme)"[13]
Miles Davis In Person Friday Night at the Blackhawk, Complete, Volume I: This was to be the first recording of a Davis band live in concert for an official album release, with tenor saxophone Hank Mobley, drums Jimmy Cobb, bass Paul Chambers, and piano Wynton Kelly – for two nights in 1961 at the Blackhawk club. Some of this music had been previously released in varying configurations.[14] Tracks includes "Oleo", "No Blues", "Bye Bye (Theme)", If I Were a Bell", "Fran Dance", "On Green Dolphin Street", "The Theme", "All Of You", "Neo", "I Thought About You", "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Walkin'", Love, I've Found You.[15]
Miles Davis In Person Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, Complete, Volume II: Tracks include "If I Were a Bell", "So What", "On Green Dolphin Street", "Walkin", "Round Midnight", "Well You Needn't", "Autumn Leaves", "Neo (Teo)", "Two Bass Hit", "Love, I've Found You", "I Thought About You", "Someday My Prince Will Come", "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise".[16]
Mongo Santamaría At The Black Hawk, in 1962, brought his recently-formed band to the legendary Black Hawk club, showing how an international cast of topflight musicians could be true to both Latin roots and jazz's spirit of adventure. Cuba was well represented by tenor saxophonist José "Chombo" Silva, who also plays violin on the mellower charanga tracks recorded in New York, and Rolando Lozano, an incredible master of the wooden flute. Another key contributor is the Brazilian João Donato, who is heard on trombone as well as his more familiar piano, while jazz great Laurdine "Pat" Patrick, another of Mongo's favorites, also puts in a guest appearance.[17]
The site of the Blackhawk is now a parking lot. Still standing is the adjacent building on Hyde Street (now housing the 222 Club) where tape recorders were set up to record the Miles Davis album.
Selective discography
| Year | Title | Artist | Genre | Label | Recorded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | A Night at the Blackhawk (Live) | Cal Tjader | Jazz | Fantasy | December, 1958 | |
| 1959 | At the Blackhawk, Vol. 1 | Shelly Manne | Jazz | Contemporary | September 1959 | |
| 1959 | At the Blackhawk, Vol. 2 | Shelly Manne | Jazz | Contemporary | September 1959 | |
| 1959 | At the Blackhawk, Vol. 3 | Shelly Manne | Jazz | Contemporary | September 1959 | |
| 1959 | At the Blackhawk, Vol. 4 | Shelly Manne | Jazz | Contemporary | September 1959 | |
| 1960 | Thelonious Monk Quartet Plus Two at the Blackhawk | Thelonious Monk | Jazz | Riverside | April 1960 | |
| 1960 | At the Blackhawk | Thelonious Monk | Jazz | Riverside | April 1960 | |
| 1961 | In Person Friday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete, Volume I | Miles Davis | Jazz | Columbia | April 21, 1961 | |
| 1961 | In Person Saturday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete, Volume II | Miles Davis | Jazz | Columbia | April 22, 1961 | |
| 1962 | At The Black Hawk | Mongo Santamaría | Latin Jazz | Fantasy | 1962 |
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Time (Monday, August 3, 1959)
- ^ Selvin, Joel. San Francisco, the Musical History Tour: A Guide to Over 200 of the Bay Area, Chronicle Books, page 76, (1996) - ISBN 0811810070
- ^ Time: Dave Brubeck (Monday, December 2, 1957)
- ^ Chambers, Jack. Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles, Da Capo Press, page 312, (1998) - ISBN 0306808498
- ^ Black Hawk: Stan Getz
- ^ Ewen, David. All the Years of American Popular Music, Prentice Hall, page 536, (1977) - ISBN 0130224421
- ^ Gerry Mulligan at Black Hawk
- ^ Chilton, John. Who's who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street, Da Capo Press, page 325, (1985) - ISBN 0306802430
- ^ Johnny Mathis biography
- ^ Chilton, John. Billie's Blues: The Billie Holiday Story, 1933-1959, Da Capo Press, page 185, (1989) - ISBN 0306803631
- ^ Michaels, Leonard. West of the West: Imagining California, University of California Press, page178, (1995) - ISBN 0520201647
- ^ Cal Tjader: Jazz at the Blackhawk
- ^ Thelonious Monk Quartet At the Blackhawk
- ^ Period of Transition: Miles @ the Blackhawk 1961
- ^ In Person Friday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete, Volume I
- ^ Miles Davis: In Person Friday Night At The Blackhawk
- ^ Mongo Santamaria At The Black Hawk