The Rhumboogie Café,
also referred to as the Rhumboogie Club, was an important, but short-lived nightclub at 343 East 55th Street, Chicago. Opened with great fanfare in April 1942,
Retrieved 3 July 2013. the Rhumboogie was owned by Charlie Glenn and boxing champion

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He r ...

. The club closed as the result of a fire on December 31, 1945. Reopening in June 1946, it never regained its old form, and closed for good in May 1947.

Performances

The opening night's performance was the first of

Tiny Bradshaw Myron Carlton "Tiny" Bradshaw (September 23, 1907 – November 26, 1958) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues bandleader, singer, composer, pianist, and drummer. His biggest hit was "Well Oh Well" in 1950, and the following year he record ...

and His Orchestra's eight-week residency. This stint was followed by Horace Henderson. An early, regular performer was

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

, who first performed there in August 1942, with backing by the Milt Larkin band, during their 9-month residency there. Other acts over the years included: *

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical ...

* Walter Dyett and His Swing Orchestra * International Sweethearts of Rhythm * Nat Towles – 3-month residency in 1943 * Gatemouth MooreCampbell, Robert L. and Robert Pruter, George R. White, Tom Kelly, George Paulus “The Aristocrat Label”
Retrieved 5 July 2013. *

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

*Ruth Lee Jones, just before changing her name to

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (; born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a ...

* Jeter-Pillars Orchestra *

Wynonie Harris Wynonie Harris (August 24, 1915 – June 14, 1969) was an American blues shouter best remembered as a singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. He had fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952. Harris is attributed by ...

* Little Miss Cornshucks c1942 "Big Road Blues Show 4/11/10: I Got What My Daddy Likes – Forgotten Blues Ladies Pt. 2"
Big Road Blues. *The Dream Band
- Carroll Dickerson,

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

, Eddie Johnson, Tom Archia, Gail Brockman, Paul King, Hillard Brown, Johnny Houser, Raymond Orr, Calvin Ladnier, Gerald Valentine, Milburn Newman, Marl Young, Clarence Mason, and Hillard Brown, among others.

The Rhumboogie label

In October 1944, the Rhumboogie Recording Company, coinciding with T-Bone Walker's third stint at the venue, recorded him accompanied by pianist Marl Young leading the Rhumboogie house band, which included Red Saunders. By then distributed by the newly founded

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

, Rhumboogie set up a second recording session with Walker for December 19, 1945. After reopening the venue in June 1946, plans were announced to record other artists but, like the venue itself, the label closed shortly after. The only other artist to get a release on Rhumboogie was Buster Bennett, recording under the name of his trumpet player, Charles Gray. Mercury later re-issued the material from the December 1945 T-Bone session.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhumboogie Cafe Jazz clubs in Chicago Defunct jazz clubs in Illinois Music venues completed in 1942 1942 establishments in Illinois