Zardi's Jazzland

Zardi's (also Zardi's Jazzland) was a venue for jazz music in Los Angeles, from the beginning of the 1950s to 1957.

Zardi's was located on Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood and Vine district. Well-known musicians such as Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz,[3] Jimmy Giuffre,[2] Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum[1], and Cal Tjader, whose concert at Zardi's was discussed in the 1956 down Beat, played there at the beginning of the 1950s.[4] Regular guests included, among others, the young composer La Monte Young.[5] In the course of its existence concerts at Zardi's were recorded by Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan, Earl Bostic and Buddy DeFranco.[6] Herb Geller dedicated his composition Tardi for Zardi's, based on the chord progressions of All God's Children Got Rhythm, to the club.[7] In early 1956, there was a live weekly television series entitled Tonight at Zardi's, which began with a concert by the Stan Kenton Orchestra.[8] In the mid-1950s a number of jazz clubs in Los Angeles, including The Haig[9] and the Tiffany Club,[10] opened near Zardi's.

Discography

• Oscar Peterson: At Zardi's, Pablo Records 1955 (1986 ed.).

Literature

• Ted Gioia: West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

References

[3] Gordon Jack: Fifties Jazz Talk: An Oral Retrospective, 2004, 42.

[4] S. Duncan Reid: Cal Tjader: The Life and Recordings of the Man Who Revolutionized Latin Jazz. 2013, p 64.

[5] Jeremy Grimshaw: Draw a Straight Line and Follow It: The Music and Mysticism of La Monte Young. p 23.

[6] Tom Lord: The Jazz Discography (accessed online, October 8, 2014.

[7] Max Harrison, Charles Fox, Eric Thacker, Stuart Nicholson: The Essential Jazz Records: Modernism to Postmodernism, 2000, p 91.

[8] Billboard, February 11, 1956.

[9] Billboard, in its issue dated 19 August 1957, noted the closing of the club.

[10]James Gavin: Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker. 2011, pp 130.