Life at the Village Vanguard
March 01, 2018, by Lily
Before completing today’s readings, I knew almost nothing of the music scene in Greenwich Village, much less the jazz scene. Isa Gitler and Nat Hentoff both do excellent jobs of detailing the trials and tribulations of two of jazz’s greatest tenors: John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. There are many similarities between the stories of the two iconic musicians. For one, both were heavily influenced and encouraged by Miles Davis. As Gitler writes of Davis and Coltrane, “In late 1955, Miles Davis beckoned. Davis had noted Coltrane’s playing and wanted him in a new quintet…he encouraged Coltrane; this encouragement gradually opened adventurous paths for Coltrane” (1). As for Rollins, Hentoff writes that he and Davis played together in a trio, and the former was continually influenced by the latter. In fact, these influences and relationships were something of a trend between the stories of the two musicians. Both were constantly influencing, and being influenced, by others. It seems as though jazz is a continuous cycle of new ideas, with each new artist taking and adapting the styles the last.
In fact, this sense of community was a theme I picked up on while reading “Live at the Village Vanguard.” Max Gordon, the author and owner of the club, describes the sense of camaraderie in the village in the early 20th century, “If you were broke, the best place I knew of to be broke in was Greenwich Village. You could always bum a cigarette, a cup of coffee, or even a bed for the night” (12). People were seemingly united their living conditions and situations, and that created a sense of unity. This was the first instance in which the community in Greenwich Village in the early 1900s reminded me of the lives of the Bowery Boys, about a century earlier. Gordon later goes on to explain the atmosphere at the Village Vanguard, during its first years, and at the start of the Depression. He describes the scene, saying, “hooting, laughter, and applause. It was all part of the fun, part of the action. You came to the Vanguard to hear the poets, watch the characters, get loaded, and heckle Eli” (27). In that passage, I was reminded of the raucous, interactive, Bowery theaters that Sante described, “the audiences were nothing if not interactive, whistling, yelling, singing, stamping their feet, shouting “H’ist dat rag!” (75). Between the sense of community felt by those in the Village, and the energy and recklessness of the social scene, the parallels between the Villagers and Bowery Boys became apparent to me.
I also found it interesting how that same sense of community and interaction spurred many famous careers. It seems as though, in the Jazz and theater communities of New York at the time, artists were constantly feeding off each other, drawing inspiration from each other, and helping others to succeed. Famous performers such as Judy Holliday got their start at the Village Vanguard, as well as others, which speaks to the importance and influence of the club. Even Sonny Rollings and John Coltrane played at the renowned spot. It seems as though most of the culture of that time passed through the Village Vanguard at one time or another.