The Palais de Dance or Birmingham Palais was a
dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and citi ...
on Monument Road in the
Ladywood
Ladywood is an inner-city district next to central Birmingham. Historically in Warwickshire, in June 2004, Birmingham City Council conducted a citywide "Ward Boundary Revision" to round-up the thirty-nine Birmingham wards to forty. As a result o ...
district of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. One of the earliest
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
clubs in England, it was the only major provincial English jazz venue during the inter-war period,
an era when interest in jazz was otherwise largely confined to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
The venue opened on 21 December 1920 with a performance by the
Frisco Jazz Band.
, which featured
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temp ...
, appeared at the venue in a ten-day residency in September 1921, returning for a month-long residency in February 1922.
The
Paramount Six also appeared in 1922.
In late 1921 and early 1922 the house band included
Emile Christian
Emile Joseph Christian (April 20, 1895 – December 3, 1973), sometimes spelled Emil Christian, was an early jazz trombonist; he also played cornet and string bass. He also wrote a number of tunes, including "Meet Me at the Green Goose", "Satani ...
.
References
Bibliography
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Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands