The Metropole Cafe was a

jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is licens ...

that operated in New York from the mid-1950s through 1965. Located at 7th Avenue and 48th Street, it was primarily noted in the

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

and progressive jazz era as being a venue for traditional musicians.

Henry "Red" Allen Henry James "Red" Allen, Jr. (January 7, 1908 – April 17, 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been claimed by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armst ...

, a New Orleans veteran of many bands including

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wr ...

's and Fletcher Henderson's, led the house band there beginning in 1954. The Metropole featured jazz performances in the afternoon and evening. Its bandstand was a long runway behind the bar, which proved convenient when the club later abandoned jazz to feature strippers. Noted songwriters

Jim Holvay James Steven "Jimmy Soul" Holvay (born May 16, 1945) is an American songwriter and musician best known for writing " Kind of a Drag", a number one hit for The Buckinghams. He is one of the founding members of The MOB, the first rock band to pe ...

and Gary Beisbier (who penned hit songs for the Buckinghams in the late 1960s) were part of a R & B band called The Chicagoans that played the Metropole Cafe in the fall of 1963. In 1968 the Metrolpole was home to a variety of Rock bands. Featured would be two bands per period, a two-week stint in most cases. The bands would alternate sets, each on stage for an hour, over a 12-hour stretch from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. During their individual sets, go-go dancers, wearing skimpy bikini outfits, would be stationed across the runway stage behind the bar, which was usually frequented by older men who might wander into the club throughout the day and night. Other resident performers at the club included

Roy Eldridge David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz", was an American jazz trumpeter. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from ...

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

Cozy Cole William Randolph "Cozy" Cole (October 17, 1909 – January 9, 1981) was an American jazz drummer who worked with Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong among others and led his own groups. Life and career William Randolph Cole was born in East Or ...

Charlie Shavers Charles James Shavers (August 3, 1920 – July 8, 1971) was an American jazz trumpeter who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams, Tommy Dorsey, and Billie Holiday ...

Zutty Singleton Arthur James "Zutty" Singleton (May 14, 1898 – July 14, 1975) was an American jazz drummer. Career Singleton was born in Bunkie, Louisiana, United States, and raised in New Orleans. According to his ''Jazz Profiles'' biography, his unusual ...

Claude Hopkins Claude Driskett Hopkins (August 24, 1903 – February 19, 1984) was an American jazz stride pianist and bandleader. Biography Claude Hopkins was born in Alexandria, Virginia, United States. Historians differ in respect of the actual date of his ...

, J. C. Higginbotham,

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was an English film director and producer. He was known for directing highly successful action and thriller films such as '' Top Gun'' (1986), '' Beverly Hills Cop II'' (1987), ''D ...

, Max Kaminsky, Sol Yaged, Maynard Ferguson (in 1964) and Buster Bailey. The last jazz acts to play the club before it ended its jazz policy in June 1965 were

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...

and

Mongo Santamaria Mongo may refer to: Geography Africa * Mongo, Chad, a Sahel city * Apostolic Vicariate of Mongo (Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction) * Mongo, Sierra Leone, a chiefdom * Mongo River (Little Scarces River), Guinea and Sierra Leone, a tributa ...

. In the film version of

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

's The Odd Couple, Felix Ungar stops by the Metropole after a suicide attempt at the beginning of the film.

References

*Interview with jazz bassist and historian

Bill Crow William Orval Crow (born December 27, 1927) is an American jazz bassist. Among other work, Crow was the long-term bassist in saxophonist Gerry Mulligan's bands in the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Crow was born on December 27, 1927, in Othello, ...

. Jazz clubs in New York City 1950s establishments in New York City 1965 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct jazz clubs in New York City {{jazz-venue-stub