Jimmy Morton

Description

Jimmy Morton gives recollections on his personal experience in jazz music, particularly through his work at Tony’s, a Brooklyn Jazz club. He begins by sharing photographs of various musicians and singers, providing anecdotal information about the images, especially regarding Thelonious Monk who frequently performed at Tony’s. Morton remembers that he was always interested in jazz music. As a child, he would listen to the AM radio to the big bands. He talks about the Putnam Central, a jazz club where artists like Charlie Mingus and Max Roach had a studio in the same building. They produced their own records – the Debut Records. His involvement in the Brooklyn jazz scene started at Tony’s; he admits that when he was a law student he spent more time listening to music at the club than studying, which resulted in his flunking out of St. John’s Law School. He knew the three men who ran Tony’s: Vincent Jones, Freddy Braithwaite, and Jimmy Gittins. In 1953, Morton became their MC by starting to announce the bands that came to play. He describes what Tony’s looked like physically, the kinds of audiences that attended performances, the history of the place, how he would introduce the bands, and what the musicians would do during and after their performances. Morton also notes that jazz music was played in churches, such as Concord Baptist Church (where Max Roach played in a band) and St. Peter’s. Other important sites were The Continental, Kingston Lounge, The East, Turbo Village, Willoughby...

From Collection

Lost Jazz Shrines

Record Contributed By

Weeksville Heritage Center