Jimmy Ryan's
{{Short description|Jazz club in New York City}}
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Jimmy Ryan's was a jazz club in New York City, USA, located at 53 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, from 1934 to 1962 and 154 West 54th Street from 1962 to 1983.John S. Wilson, "Jimmy Ryan's, A Shrine to the Same Old Jazz", The New York Times, September 24, 1976 It was a venue for performances of Dixieland jazz.Jazz A-Z, by Peter Clayton & Peter Gammond, Guinness Books (Guinness Superlatives Ltd.) (1986); {{OCLC|15353474|76750957}}.
History
The location at 52nd Street, Manhattan, New York City, was one of a row of brownstones with clubs operating in basements. As the last surviving jazz club on 52nd Street, its brownstone — along with all the other brownstones on the north side of the street — were demolished in 1962 to make way for construction of the new CBS Building. CBS had given Jimmy Ryan $9,000 to relocate.Bill Crow, Jazz Anecdotes: Second Time Around, p. 116, Oxford University Press (2005) {{OCLC|224377631|775055946}} {{ISBN|0195187954}} {{ISBN|9780195187953}}Arnold Shaw, 52nd Street, The Street of Jazz, p. 242, Da Capo Press (1977, 1983) {{OCLC|468129109|3002082|470090841}} {{OCLC|462372683}} {{ISBN|0306800683}} {{ISBN|9780306800689}}
The club was owned by partners Matthew C. (Matty) Walsh (1914–2006) and Jimmy Ryan (1911–1963). Walsh, Ryan's brother-in-law, continued ownership following Ryan's death in July 1963 at the French Hospital. Gilbert J. Pincus (1907–1980) — who served as doorman from 1942 to 1962 at the original location and from about 1963 until his death in 1980 — became known as the "Mayor of 52nd Street".John S. Wilson, "Gilbert J. Pincus, 73, Jazz Club Doorman and Mayor of 52nd Street," The New York Times, February 7, 1980Biography Index, A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 12: September 1979 – August 1982, H.W. Wilson Co., New York (1983) {{OCLC|83009305|50355220|183279994}}Arnold Shaw, The Street That Never Slept, New York's Fabled 52d St. McCann & Geoghegan, New York (1971) {{OCLC|205864}}.
Jazz style
During the 1940s, three New York nightclubs stood out as centers for traditional style jazz: Jimmy Ryan's, Nick's in Greenwich Village, and Eddie Condon's just a few blocks away.William P. Gottlieb, The Golden Age of Jazz, p. 13, Pomegranate Communications, Inc. (1995).
Performing artists
Resident musicians from the 1940s
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- Mezz Mezzrow (1943)
- James P. Johnson (1943)
- Art Hodes (1945–1949)
- J. C. Higginbotham (1946)
- Henry "Red" Allen (1946)
- Sidney De Paris (1947–1957)
- Sidney Bechet (1948)
- Max Kaminsky (1948–1949)
- Wilbur De Paris (1951–1962)
- Zutty Singleton (1963–1970)
- Roy Eldridge (1970–1980)
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Sunday jam sessions, organized and managed by Milt Gabler
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- Sidney Bechet
- Pops Foster
- Hot Lips Page
- Pee Wee Russell
- Eddie Condon
- Mezz Mezzrow
- Kaiser Marshall
- Hank Duncan
- Sandy Williams
- Brad Gowans
- Ben Webster
- Chu Berry
- Coleman Hawkins
- Wildcats
{{div col end}}
{{wide image|52nd Street, New York, by Gottlieb, 1948 crop.jpg|900px|
Looking east from 6th Avenue, 52nd Street is at night (May 1948); photo by William P. Gottlieb (cropped)}}
Jazz tunes relating to the club
- Tony Parenti and his Dean's of Dixieland, "A Night at Jimmy Ryan's", Jazzology (1967)
: Max Kaminsky, Conrad Janis, Davis Quinn, Joe Henshaw, Zutty Singleton
- "Down in Jungletown" (renamed "Down at Jimmy Ryan's")
- "Blues for Jimmy Ryan"
- Live at Jimmy's, a complete album was recorded live there in 1973 by Maynard Ferguson.
References
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Category:Defunct drinking establishments in Manhattan
Category:Defunct jazz clubs in New York City
Category:Defunct restaurants in Manhattan
Category:Nightlife in New York City