USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Among the many seminal figures of jazz and blues who performed at the Cotton Club, bandleader Duke Ellington was perhaps the most closely associated with the venue.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Cotton Club was Harlem’s premier nightclub in the 1920s and 1930s. The club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era, including Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and Ethel Waters.

Detailed explanation-3: -Opened in 1923, the Cotton Club on 142nd St & Lenox Ave in the heart of Harlem, New York was operated by white New York gangster Owney Madden. Madden used the Cotton Club as an outlet to sell his “#1 Beer” to the prohibition crowd.

Detailed explanation-4: -The club brought an “influx of whites toward Harlem after sundown, flooding the little cabarets and bars where formerly only colored people laughed and sang.” Hughes also mentioned how many of the neighboring cabarets, especially black cabarets, were forced to close due to the competition from the Cotton Club.

Detailed explanation-5: -White folks in New York wanted to enjoy the Harlem nightlife, but some didn’t want to socialize with people of color while doing it. Gangster Owney Madden, a Chicagoan, created the Cotton Club on 142nd St. & Lenox Avenue to be a whites-only club, except for the entertainers and staff.