The Apollo Theater

From The Peopling of New York City: Harlem

Contents 1 The Apollo Theater 2 Brief Bio 3 Jazz at the Apollo 4 Celebrating Harlem's Cultural Heritage

The Apollo Theater

Located on 125th Street, this historic Harlem theatre housed the culturally significant birth of jazz music during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s and today it is the home of the popular television program Showtime at The Apollo, a talent-search show. In the face of emerging gentrification in Harlem, the Apollo is considered to be a stronghold of African-American theatre, culture, and history, and tourists from around the world continue to include a visit to the theatre when they visit New York City.

Brief Bio

• The Apollo Theater was founded in the mid 1800’s but was not used as the Apollo Theater we now know until the post WWI/ Harlem Renaissance era.
• Theater ownership changed hands numerous times.
• The theater began hiring African American talent because the neighborhood was becoming predominantly African American and because African American entertainment was cheaper. The audience was still white though, but Apollo was only place that hired African American talent.
• Major talents were discovered at the Apollo. Some examples include Ella Fitzgerald (who originally intended to dance but was too intimidated and decided to sing instead), Billie Holiday, James Brown, Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Jackson 5, Patti Labelle, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, and Lauryn Hill.
• The theater’s slogan reads, “Where stars are Born and Legends are Made.” This slogan had implications of hope for the entire community during a time of discrimination, segregation, weak economy, and post - World War I.
• The theater was at its peak during Harlem Renaissance.
• The theater is now part of a foundation, which works to maintain the glory of the theater and has re-implemented some of its features such as “Late Night at the Apollo” and amateur night. Here is a link to the Apollo Theater virtual tour on Biography.com
• The theater is now owned by New York state and is officially a state landmark. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Jazz at the Apollo

During the 1920s, when Harlem became home to the Great Migration of African-Americans from Southern rural areas to Northern cities, major changes in music took place in Harlem.

Traditional affluent artists

Louis Armstrong

More commonly known as “Satchmo” or “Pops,” Louis Armstrong was one of the earliest and most influential jazz players to make Harlem known to the public. Born in 1901, Armstrong lived in poverty for most of his youth and developed a liking for singing. Eventually his interest in music deepened and he started his famous cornet jazz playing in the ‘20s. Many albums he created were mainly solos, going against the traditional collective improvisation and developing instead a future precedence of soloist records. What made him stand out from the crowd? His personality was very charismatic; he always had a smile on and was out there to entertain, not complain. His gravelly voice also made him instantaneously recognizable as well as his improvisational scats on vocal and cornet. His influence extended into the ‘60s and went well beyond the jazz traditionalist realm; he became an inspiration to all who wanted to make it big out there. Armstrong was your traditional example of the “American dream;” he started out with nothing and yet became a something, and according to critic Steve Leggett, Armstrong was "perhaps the most important American musician of the 20th century."^[4]

Henry "Red" Allen

“Red” is everything Armstrong demonstrated in trumpet playing and beyond. His unique style again, like Satchmo’s, served as a reference for more contemporary players, such as Miles Davis. To go into technique, Red's upper register was so decipherable and his range was phenomenal. Also, he was known for his very loose playing (off-beat) and rhythmic 'womping,' with a mute at the end of the trumpet. By 1924, Allen was playing professionally with the Excelsior Brass Band and the jazz dance bands of Sam Morgan, George Lewis and John Casimir. In his later years, he won the Down Beat awards in both the traditional jazz and the modern jazz categories. His legacy, however, is still maintained in his early days with his supreme virtuosity in trumpet performance. ^{[5] [6]}

Major “Swing” Artists

Count Basie

Count Basie helped define the words 'jazz' and 'swing.' He was a master player the piano and organ and also became a composer. In 1936 he founded the Count Basie Orchestra and lead it into permanent fame for almost 50 years. Notable songs performed by Basie include "One O'Clock Jump" and "April In Paris." His style of piano playing, contrary to the improvisation of Armstrong and Red’s jazz, was much more to-the-point and focused on the blues, relying on simple melodic phrases to achieve his harmonies.^{[7] [8]}

Ella Fitzgerald

Also known as the "First Lady of Song", Ella Fitzgerald is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century. Her vocal greatness extended from regular jazz to scat to blues to be-bop to swing to even soft and modern jazz. With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her absolute pureness of tone and emotion, her enunciation, phrasing and intonation, and last but not least her "horn-like" improvisational ability. She once did a whole song in scat format. ^[9]

Influential Blues Artists

Billie Holliday

She was one of the first prominent female artists to make it big live. Starting her life with no money whatsoever, she in the ‘30s performed at various nightclubs in Harlem, often reducing the audiences to tears. Eventually, she landed at Pod's and Jerry's, a well-known Harlem jazz club. Her vocal style was very deeply personal and an excellent example of an intimate approach to singing, which in this case is very similar to the blues style. Examples of songs she wrote include "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", and "Lady Sings the Blues". ^[10]

The Master of Be-bop

John Birks 'Dizzy' Gillespie

“Dizzy” was a phenomenal trumpet player, equal to the skill of the greats like Miles and Satchmo, who was noted for starting and finishing with one genre of music: bebop. His first bebop recording was in 1944 with Coleman Hawkins and was met with huge success. What made him so special? Recording with Charlie Parker (another influential instrument player) never hurts, but it really has to do with Dizzy’s invention of bebop, a genre so totally different from anything ever heard. The style is similar to jazz with much more improvisation and variation. One second there would be a pure melody and the next three complex harmonies would be introduced. Bebop is a chaotic type of music and yet everything still seems to fit in, and Dizzy with his trumpet and horn-rimmed specs lit the stage, serving also as an excellent mentor for younger players to come. Click here to watch Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong in Umbrella Man ^{[11] [12]}

DID YOU KNOW?
• In 1995, the U.S. Post Office issued a Louis Armstrong 32 cents commemorative postage stamp.^[13]
• Billie Holiday, before becoming a well-known singer, worked as a prostitute in 1930 and was eventually imprisoned for a short time for solicitation.^[14]
• Dizzy Gillespie claims the origin of his iconic trumpet to be the result of accidental damage caused during a construction job and he liked the effect.^[15]
• On August 16, 1957, Buddy Holly was allegedly the first white rock and roll performer to play at the Apollo. ^[16]

Celebrating Harlem's Cultural Heritage

On Saturday, February 21st our class observed African-American history month by going out to the Museum of Natural History and watching films about Harlem's artistic legacy. The entire event culminated in a final performance titled The Final Stomp. The video above is a snapshot of the finale. The performance featured up and coming artists as well as established performers.
The younger performers are Michela Marino Lerman and Jason Samuels Smith. Both of these artists are very talented tap dancers who are already building impressive resumes.
But the two entertainers who stole the show were Mabel Lee and Harold Cromer. Mabel Lee, the woman in the polka dot dress, glowed on the stage and shared her love for performing with us. She is known as the "Queen of the Talkies" and appeared in the Broadway shows Shuffle Along and Bubbling Brown Sugar. Harold Cromer is a member of the comedic dance group Stump and Stumpy and appeared on Broadway numerous times. Their stage presence and heartfelt performances transcended time and brought us all back to the heyday of Harlem.

Here are some of our reactions to the event:

“What really took me was the end, when they performed. They took me back to the ’50s, and for the first time … in my life I felt as though I was, just for fifteen minutes, really back in time, back in that culture. It was amazing.”

-Joshua

“I loved watching Mabel Lee and Harold Cromer dancing how they used to despite their age. They made me feel as though I had a glimpse of how Harlem culture used to be, and wish I’d had more. It just looked like so much fun, and I almost had this second-hand nostalgia, trying to picture what Harlem was like back in its Golden Age.”

-Christie

Click on the picture to see where Diego is now!

Editors: Ruth, Joshua, Christie, Rachel and Keren

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Sources:

1. ↑ "Apollo Theater." 2007. 5 May 2009. http://www.apollotheater.org/
2. ↑ "Black History." 1996. 8 May 2009. http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/apollo-theater/tour.jsp
3. ↑ "Encyclopedia Britannica." 1994. 6 May 2009. http://www.britannica.com/
4. ↑ "Louis Armstrong." 9 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong
5. ↑ "Red Allen." 10 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Allen
6. ↑ "Red Allen." 10 May 2009. http://harlem.org/people/allen.html
7. ↑ "Count Basie." 5 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_basie
8. ↑ "Count Basie." 6 May 2009. http://harlem.org/people/basie.html
9. ↑ "Ella Fitzgerald." 4 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Fitzgerald
10. ↑ "Billie Holiday." 7 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday
11. ↑ "Dizzy Gillespie." 4 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_Gillespie
12. ↑ "Gillespie." 6 May 2009. http://harlem.org/people/gillespie.html
13. ↑ "Louis Armstrong." 9 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong
14. ↑ "Billie Holiday." 7 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday
15. ↑ "Dizzy Gillespie." 4 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_Gillespie
16. ↑ "Apollo Theater." 6 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Theater