The world of jazz entertainment probably never had a better (or unwitting) ally than Congressman Andrew Volstead, the promoter of the 19th Amendment outlawing the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in America. The Volstead Act, better known as Prohibition, had many unintended consequences, including the creation of the American speakeasy. It was in these illegal but largely public nightclubs that jazz found its first secure foothold with the broader American public. And no speakeasy was more popular and glamorous than Harlem's Cotton club, which opened in 1924.
Although the Club enforced racist policies, within this restrictive atmosphere something extraordinary was happening every night on stage: musicians, singers, and dancers were creating a form of entertainment of a quality and style that had never been seen before. Jazz voices were blending with Broadway entertainers and the Cotton Club was presenting the greatest floorshow on earth.
Duke Ellington opened at The Cotton Club in December of 1927. He always stated that gig as the pivotal one of his career. He wrote a lot of the music for the club. Other composers wrote great songs for the club also including I Cant Give You Anything But Love, Digga Digga Doo, Stormy Weather, and I've Got The World On A String, many of which were used in Broadway reviews. but Ellington set the musical style between 1927 and 1933 and set his own future in motion in the process. His Cotton Club employment allowed Ellington to finalize the personnel and the big Band size of his ensemble. The exposure was one of the highest profile and he became a big name in New York.
The singers and dancers fronting the shows included Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and a 16 year old Lena Horne. Many other brilliant performers' work never reached the larger population.
The premier event of the new collaboration between New York City Center and Jazz At Lincoln Center depicted the Cotton Club during its greatest period: the Ellington years. It blended Duke Ellington's music (newly minted by Wynton Marsalis) and the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra with a cast of dancers and singers in a performance that was indeed incredible.
One highlight was re-construction of a five-man group of tappers in a number called Peckin. They lined up one behind the other, in their tuxedos and black patent leather shoes, and tapped their way onto the stage. They kicked out, changed direction, tapped off, all while still in lockstep. Here is the original routine by the Five Blazers:
