THE RHYTHM CLUB
The Last Day of The Rhythm Club was the name of my movie that was shown at my big exhibition in Pairs at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie Harlem in My Heart . It shows the musicians at The Rhythm Club which was a club in Harlem where only jazz musicians met to play card, they enjoy time togehter sometime playing their music and sometime making good food. The Rhythm Club exeisted since the 1920s, it was shut down by the landlord who asked a lot money for the rent. I was so very happy to show their pictures on the wall, they would talk about it, sometime inviting their friends to look at it, and sometime they would bring picture of themself when they were younger, only three women only were allowed to come to The Rhythm Club, Love, Bety, Lucy and Luoluo my very dear friends. Emile so dear to all of us, was in charge to of money to pay the rent. The rent was payed by money of beer that the musician would buy and take it from the fridge.
The Rhythm Club was founded in 1920 on 132nd Street in Harlem. At that time, there were bars, nightclubs, and ballrooms all around the neighborhood. The Rhythm Club started as a private club for musicians, who would store their instruments and rehearse there. After hours musicians would meet to eat or play pool, and jam sessions would run late into the night. These “cutting contests,” in which musicians would trade improvised choruses of a tune, trying to impress their peers with their inventiveness and stamina, became legendary. New arrivals in New York would head straight to the Rhythm Club because it also functioned as a “clearinghouse for employment,” according to jazz historian Scott DeVeaux. As the pianist and bandleader Count Basie put it, “A lot of guys used to bring their instruments with them… just in case somebody came by there looking for somebody to go out on a job.”
Over the decades the Rhythm Club changed location a number of times. I started to spend time there in the 1980s, and slowly the walls were covered with nearly 400 of my photos of club members and families and children from 33rd. (True Harlem residents always say “Thirty-third” —never “One hundred and thirty-third street,” as new arrivals and outsiders do.) The Rhythm Club was like a second home to me. For years I went there nearly every day, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes at night, to see my friends and enjoy time with them. I wanted to make sure everyone was okay and to share a good laugh. I cherished that place. Friends would stop by and comment on the photos and the newspaper articles I’d pasted on the walls. Sometimes they told me that my camera took good pictures or said, “Looks just like me!”
Somebody always had a joke! Everyone enjoyed being together— at times in deep silence, and at other times amidst a lot of laughter. There was always music either from the CD player or someone getting up from the card table to play. For example, Slim (Calvin Lockhart), who came every day in his convertible white Cadillac with one of his guitars. He used to play for many years with Irene Reid. The card games were serious, though. They played road or pinochle, and the games went on for hours.
Benny Roosevelt, the owner of the huge space where the Rhythm Club was located on 33rd, was forced to give it up when the taxes got too high. The Club moved to an apartment on the second floor of the building next door. The apartment had a kitchen where sometimes there was good cooking. I made it a point to make various good herbal teas to take care of their stomachs or their colds. I loved to do that — especially when they told me it worked. In the fridge there was always beer for a dollar, too.
The housemen Harry and Scribble took care of collecting the money. Emile Williams is the oldest surviving member from that time; he used to take care of the rent and the electric bills. Each card player would pay one dollar per hour and this money went to Emile to take care of the bills.
For many years the members had all been men. But by the time the Club moved to its last location, a storefront on 33rd downstairs from the apartment with the kitchen, the membership was dwindling: the musicians and their friends were getting old, and some had passed away. Those who were left decided to invite a couple of their female friends to join the Club so that the card games could continue.
In November 2006, the Rhythm Club was forced to vacate the storefront when the owner raised the rent very high. A lawyer helped Emile try to find a solution and they went to court several times in an attempt to save the place, but the greedy owner demanded so much money that the Club could not afford to stay. “The new Harlem” was taking over.
Thank you from all of the members of the club to my dear lawyer Mitchell Heaney who took a lot of time to try and help them to keep their communal club. Thank you from my heart.
The man displayed on the right was a music teacher to the children who came to the Rhythm Club.
MY little friends from 133th St, we used to go to see our friend, a great Jazz musician, who used to teach them piano.
One of the members gave me this photo to put on the wall of The Rhythm Club. Very often, they would give me pictures that they wanted to display on the wall.
The Last Day of The Rhythm Club (2006)
