From Broadway To 52nd Street
On November 8, 1926 The Imperial hosted the opening night of this new musical “Oh Kay!” starring Gertrude Lawrence, Oscar Shaw and the Fairbanks twins. The show ran for 256 performances and with the assistance of George and Ira Gershwin gave the world a Broadway melody destined to become a jazz standard – Someone To Watch Over Me.
The Story: It is 1926, the Jazz Age and the era of Prohibition. Jimmy Winter is very popular among the young ladies, and in the imaginary town of Beachampton, they are cleaning the living room of his Long Island, New York estate, declaring that “The Woman’s Touch” is exactly what his home needs. Jimmy Winter spends so little time on his Long Island estate, Kay Denham, posing as a cook, helps her rum-running brother, a titled English bootlegger, cache his illegal booze there. When Jimmy returns unexpectedly to get married, he falls in love with Kay. As a result, he helps Kay outmaneuver revenue agents and after renouncing his numerous other promises of marriage, agrees to marry Kay.
Jazz History: West 52nd Street is best known as the “Street of Jazz” or “The Street That Never Sleeps”. It ran east to west from 5th to 6th Avenues and was renowned in its heyday during and after Prohibition from 1925 to 1960. 52nd Street hosted such celebrated establishments as the Hickory House, Jimmy Ryan’s, the Famous Door, the Iron Gate, Leon & Eddie, 21, Tony’s, The Onyx, The Three Deuces, Downbeat, The Yacht Club, The Wing Club and Kelly’s Stable.
From 1935 to 1945 this monochrome of five story brownstone buildings in whose drab and cramped street level interiors – once known as English basements – flourished as speakeasies and jazz clubs and by 1936 it became also known as “Swing Street” and served as the launching pad for more singers, more hit songs and more instrumentalists than Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis or Los Angeles.
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Johnny Lytle was born John Dillard Lytle on October 13, 1932 in Springfield, Ohio, the son of a trumpeter father and an organist mother. He began playing the drums and piano at an early age. Before studying music in earnest, he was a boxer and was a successful Golden Gloves champion. During the late ’50s, Lytle continued to box, but landed jobs as a drummer for Ray Charles, Jimmy Witherspoon and Gene Ammons.
Switching from drums to vibraphone Johnny toured with organist Hiram “Boots” Johnson in 1955 and then formed his first group in 1957 with saxophonist Boots Johnson, organist Milton Harris and drummer William “Peppy” Hinnant. He so impressed Grammy winning producer Orrin Keepnews who signed him to his Jazzland label in 1960.
Known for his great hand speed and showmanship, Lytle was also a songwriter, penning many of his own hits, including “The Loop,” “The Man,” “Lela,” “Selim” (honoring Miles Davis), and the jazz classic “The Village Caller”. He recorded more than 30 albums for various jazz labels including Tuba, Jazzland, Solid State and Muse. Throughout his career he performed and recorded with a host of jazz greats including Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Timmons and Roy Ayers.
Johnny never recorded with any of the major record labels fearing loss of control of his music and creative development, thus never gaining the status of a jazz icon like some of his peers, but finding success early in his career with chart-topping albums like A Groove, The Loop, and Moonchild. Nicknamed “Fast Hands,” he always kept an audience’s attention, was popular on the jazz circuit and built a respectable catalog of music with recordings in the ’70s,’80s and ’90s. Johnny toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, with his last performance one month before his passing on December 15, 1995 in his hometown of Springfield. The street where the vibraphonist and drummer used to live was renamed Johnny Lytle Avenue in his honor.
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Monk Montgomery was born William Howard Montgomery on October 10, 1921 in Indianapolis, Indiana the older brother of Wes and Buddy. A student of the double bass, his professional career did not start until age 30, after Wes’ career began, and from 1951 to 1953 he worked in Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra.
Following that stint Monk worked with his brothers and Alonzo Johnson in the Montgomery Johnson Quintet. He would go on to record with his brothers as the Montgomery Brothers, releasing a number of albums together. 1955 saw him moving to Seattle, Washington to form the Mastersounds from 1957–1960. From 1966–1970, he freelanced with Cal Tjader, settled in Las Vegas, Nevada and continued to play with the Red Norvo Trio and worked with Kenny Burrell, Art Farmer and Eddie Harris among others.
In his final years he founded and was active in the Las Vegas Jazz Society and was planning a world jazz festival. He is perhaps the first electric bassist of significance to jazz, introducing in 1951 the Fender Precision Bass to the genre. Bassist Monk Montgomery died of cancer in Las Vegas on May 20, 1982.
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Larry Young was born on October 7, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey. He played the organ with various R&B bands in the 1950s before gaining jazz experience with Jimmy Forrest, Lou Donaldson, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley and Tommy Turrentine. He began recording as a leader for Prestige from 1960, making a number of soul-jazz discs, Testifying, Young Blues and Groove Street.
Larry moved to Blue Note in 1964, his music began to show the marked influence of John Coltrane and during this period, he produced his most enduring work. He recorded many times as part of a trio with guitarist Grant Green and drummer Elvin Jones. Into Somethin’ with saxophonist Sam Rivers became Young’s Blue Note debut, though 1965’s Unity remains his best-known album featuring Joe Henderson and a young Woody Shaw.
Young’s subsequent Blue Note albums like Contrasts, Of Love and Peace, Heaven On Earth and Mother Ship drew on elements of the ’60s avant-garde, and utilized local Newark musicians. He then became a part of some of the earliest fusion experiments: first in “Lifetime”, then “Emergency!” with Tony Williams and John McLaughlin, and also on Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew. Branching out, Larry was also known to rock fans for a jam he recorded with Jimi Hendrix on the album Nine to the Universe.
Organist Larry Young, also known as Khalid Yasin (Abdul Aziz), who pioneered a modal approach and whose characteristic sound involved management of the stops on the Hammond organ, producing overtone series that caused an ethereal, drifting effect; a sound that is simultaneously lead and background, passed away on March 30, 1978 in New York City.
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Norman Simmons was born on October 6, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois. As a child he was captivated by the sounds of the big band era, in particular, Duke Ellington’s orchestra. He started teaching himself piano and by sixteen enrolled in the Chicago School of Music, completing in four years.
In 1949 Norman formed his own group and began recording in 1952. An accomplished composer his tune “Jan” was a hit for tenorist Paul Bascomb the following year. Keeping a steady gig at the noted Chicago jazz spot “The Beehive” gave him the opportunity to back touring musicians like Wardell Gray, Lester Young and Charlie Parker. But it was Ernestine Anderson who convinced him to move to New York City to continue working with her.
In New York Simmons performed with Johnny Griffin and played and wrote intricate arrangements for Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. Upon the latter’s recommendation he teamed up with Carmen McRae for nine years before moving on with Betty Carter and Anita O’Day where he found greater improvisational freedom. Late in the 70’s decade he began his long collaboration with Joe Williams and would work with Helen Humes and Sarah Vaughan among others.
As an educator he has taught at Paterson State College since 1982, participated in the Jazzmobile program for over twenty years, and has fostered music in public schools. Pianist Norman Simmons’ arrangement of Ramsey Lewis’ 1966 hit of “Wade In The Water” became a large commercial success, he was a member of the Ellington Legacy Band beginning in 2002 and he currently continues to perform, compose and arrange.
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