This is my artist’s conception of a band at the famous Cotton Club. Opened in 1923, the Cotton Club on 142nd St & Lenox Ave in the heart of Harlem, was operated by white New York gangster Owney Madden. Shows at the Cotton Club were musical revues and featured dancers, singers, comedians and variety acts, as well as a house band. It also helped push Duke Ellington’s career, whose orchestra was the house band from 1927 to 1931.
Cotton Club
This is my artist’s conception of a band at the famous Cotton Club. Opened in 1923, the Cotton Club on 142nd St & Lenox Ave in the heart of Harlem, was operated by white New York gangster Owney Madden. Shows at the Cotton Club were musical revues and featured dancers, singers, comedians and variety acts, as well as a house band. It also helped push Duke Ellington’s career, whose orchestra was the house band from 1927 to 1931.