page_title: Village Vanguard
section_title: Jazz
hierarchical_section_title: Village Vanguard / History / Jazz
caption_attribution_description: Dexter Gordon &amp; Benny Bailet at The Village Vanguard June 1977
context_page_description: The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz music venue in 1957. It has hosted many highly renowned jazz musicians since then, and today is the oldest operating jazz club in New York City.
context_section_description: Lorraine Gordon wrote, "The biggest reason my pals and I went to the Vanguard, though, was because there were jazz jam sessions in the afternoons on Sundays. You could go hear Lester Young, Ben Webster; all the greatest jazz musicians for fifty cents at the door, or something like that." Although jazz was not yet the main attraction at the club, the Vanguard was a haven for small, swing groups. In the 1930s and 1940s, Sidney Bechet, Una Mae Carlisle, Art Hodes, and Mary Lou Williams performed at the Vanguard. Lorraine Gordon, Max Gordon's wife, said, "in time, Max began to book acts, often three a night. Many proved to be high-caliber jazzmen." In 1940, Roy Eldridge performed at the Vanguard. His performance and his dedicated fans raised the possibility that jazz could be the main attraction. As modern jazz developed in the 1940s, small groups began to dominate the Vanguard. College students and artists in Greenwich Village took an interest in jazz. In 1940, a resident trio was formed by Eddie Heywood, Zutty Singleton, and Jimmy Hamilton.
  By 1957, one commentator writes, "Gordon reversed his policy, putting jazz at the top of the bill and letting the folknicks…and the comics…fill it out. Thus the Vanguard booked Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Jimmy Giuffre, Sonny Rollins, Anita O'Day, Charlie Mingus, Bill Evans (a regular), Stan Getz, Carmen McRae." The booking of Thelonious Monk was a particularly interesting story that demonstrated the Vanguard's ability to take a relatively unknown musician and help launch his career. The story of Monk's introduction to the Vanguard began with the first ever encounter between Max and Lorraine. Max and Lorraine first met each other in the Bluebell Bakery, a "homey little Fire Island joint." After she walked in and spotted Max (who she knew to be the owner of the Village Vanguard), Lorraine proposed to him that he showcase Thelonious Monk at the club for a week. He agreed and on September 14, 1948, Monk opened for the Vanguard. The reception was not ideal. "[N]obody came. None of the so-called jazz critics. None of the so-called cognoscenti. Zilch." But Lorraine continued to sponsor Monk as a genius and through her persistence helped him grow into the pillar of jazz he is today. From the 1950s on, the Vanguard was the leading small venue for jazz, launching many celebrated careers and sustaining others that were already aloft. The Thad Jones–Mel Lewis Orchestra that eventually became the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra played from 1966 to 1990 on Monday nights.
  In 1989, Max Gordon died. The day after, Lorraine Gordon closed the Vanguard. The following day, she reopened it and continued to run the place. On June 9, 2018, Lorraine Gordon died at the age of 95 from a stroke.
caption: Dexter Gordon and Benny Bailey in 1977
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