A rare collection of more than 200 full-color and black-and-white souvenir photographs and
memorabilia that bring to life the renowned jazz nightclubs of the 1940s and 1950s compiled by
Grammy Award-winning record executive and music historian Jeff Gold and featuring exclusive
interviews with Quincy Jones Sonny Rollins Robin Givhan Jason Moran and Dan Morgenstern.
In the two decades before the Civil Rights movement jazz nightclubs were among the first
places that opened their doors to both Black and white performers and club goers in Jim Crow
America. In this extraordinary collection Jeff Gold looks back at this explosive moment in the
history of Jazz and American culture and the spaces at the center of artistic and social
change. Sittin' In is a visual history of jazz clubs during these crucial decades when some of
the greatest names in in the genre?Billie Holiday Charlie Parker Ella Fitzgerald Dizzy
Gillespie Miles Davis Louis Armstrong Oscar Peterson and many others?were headlining acts
across the country. In many of the clubs Black and white musicians played together and more
significantly people of all races gathered together to enjoy an evening's entertainment. House
photographers roamed the floor and for a dollar took picture of patrons that were developed on
site and could be taken home in a keepsake folder with the club's name and logo. Sittin' In
tells the story of the most popular club in these cities through striking images first-hand
anecdotes true tales about the musicians who performed their unforgettable shows notes on
important music recorded live there and more. All of this is supplemented by colorful club
memorabilia including posters handbills menus branded matchbooks and more. Inside you'll
also find exclusive in-depth interviews conducted specifically for this book with the
legendary Quincy Jones jazz great tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins Pulitzer Prize-winning
fashion critic Robin Givhan jazz musician and creative director of the Kennedy Center Jason
Moran and jazz critic Dan Morgenstern. Gold surveys America's jazz scene and its intersection
with racism during segregation focusing on three crucial regions: the East Coast (New York
Atlantic City Boston Washington D.C.) the Midwest (Chicago Cleveland Detroit St. Louis
Kansas City) and the West Coast (Los Angeles San Francisco). This collection of ephemeral
snapshots tells the story of an era that helped transform American life beginning the move
from traditional Dixieland jazz to bebop from conservatism to the push for personal freedom.
