Connie's Inn Orchestra, v./Harlan Lattimore: "How Am I Doin', Hey Hey" (1932)

Описание: Originally issued as a Duke Wilson & his Blackberries side.

Connie's Inn was a Harlem black & tan basement nightclub opened in 1923 by Conrad "Connie" Immerman and his two brothers. These Latvian immigrants ran a deli in Harlem, but made their fortune as Prohibition bootleggers.

Like rival Cotton Club, Connie's featured black artists performing for all-white audiences. In today's money, this hotspot's $2.50 cover charge equals about $48. After Prohibition's repeal in early 1933, Connie's Inn went out of business and was replaced by a spot that offered gay and bi entertainers, the Ubangi Club.

Born in a small Georgia town, James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson graduated from Atlanta University at age 20 with degrees in chemistry and math, then relocated to NYC, intending to enroll at Columbia for a chem master's degree. While sharing an apartment with a riverboat pianist, Fletcher, who was also skilled at the keys, substituted for his roommate when the man became ill, and it turned into a full time job.

He later was a song plugger, and realizing a music career would pay better than chemistry, Fletcher never got his master's. In 1923, he was a member of a studio group that was hired in Jan. '24 for a gig at Manhattan's Club Alabam. This was Henderson's first official self-named orchestra.


PERSONNEL: Fletcher Henderson (leader, piano); Harlan Lattimore (vocal); Russell Smith, Bobby Stark (trumpet); Rex Stewart (cornet); J.C. Higginbotham, Sandy Williams (trombone); Russell Procope (clarinet, alto sax); Coleman Hawkins (clarinet, tenor sax solo); Edgar Sampson (alto sax); Clarence Holiday (banjo, guitar); John Kirby (tuba); Walter Johnson (drums); Don Redman (lyricist); Lemuel Fowler (composer)

Recorded March 11, 1932 and released
on shellac PERFECT 78 #15603 (11447-B)

Reissued 1993 on 2-disc COLUMBIA Legacy various artists CD longbox #7464-562454-2,
"A Tribute to Black Entertainers"