Billy Strayhorn Archives - Harlem World Magazine

Downtown Sings Uptown With Songs From Gay Harlem At The Kaufman Music Center

This unique event, features rarities, 21st century premieres, and well-known works by Harlem's Bessie Smith, Gladys Bentley, Billy Strayhorn, Porter Grainger and songs popularized by Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters, and “Ma” Rainey.Continue reading

Albreta Hunter, Ethel Waters, ‘Ma’ Rainey And More Are The “Songs From Gay Harlem”

NYFOS premieres a fascinating new program called Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do: Songs from Gay Harlem, revealing the musical heart of a subculture within a subculture. Continue reading

Join A Gay Garden Get Together With Harlem Historian John Reddick And More

Integrity Harlem presents Gay Garden Get Together with a talks Langston Hughes, an LGBT Circle of Friendships, Talent & Creativity with Harlem historian John Reddick.Continue reading

Library Of Congress Acquires Archive Of Harlem’s Billy “Take the ‘A’ Train” Strayhorn

The Library of Congress announced today that it has acquired the original manuscripts documenting the work of composer, arranger and pianist Billy Strayhorn. Continue reading

The Hall Of Fame Delta Rhythm Boys, Version Of You Can “Take The ‘A’ Train,” In Harlem

The title refers to the "Then" relatively new "A" subway service that runs through New York City, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn, beginning service in 1936 traveling up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using an express track section which was opened in 1932 through Manhattan.Continue reading

New Harlem’s Allan Harris CD-Eddie Jefferson 100 Yrs.

With his gruff, gravelly voice, his penchant for hep cat diction, and the serpentine bebop turns of his vocalese creations, the late Eddie Jefferson might not seem the ideal match for a classic romantic crooner like Harlem Allan Harris.Continue reading

Uptown Open House Expo Is Coming To Harlem Are You?

Nearly 80 years since Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn told us to take the A train, the neighborhoods of Upper Manhattan have flourished while retaining the unique spirit found in that famous tune.Continue reading

Kay Davis “The Wordless Vocalist” Harlem NY 1940’s

Katherine McDonald Wimp née Katherine McDonald stage name Kay Davis, December 5, 1920 – January 27, 2012 in Apopka, Florida, was an "exquisite" American jazz singer best known for her time with the orchestra of Duke Ellington.Continue reading

Duke’s Belongings In His Sister’s Harlem Apartment Go Under The Hammer

If Duke Ellington was the king of jazz, Harlem was his kingdom.

And on Wednesday, the neighborhood celebrated the music connoisseur with an auction of his most prized possessions - just a few blocks from the Cotton Bar where it all started in the 1920s.Continue reading

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Middle School Jazz Academy At 10

Since 2006, Jazz at Lincoln Center has proudly offered free jazz education to 60 middle school age student musicians in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx through its groundbreaking program Middle School Jazz Academy.Continue reading

Another Harlem Story: Canada Lee And H. Jack Geiger, 1940

Here's another of one of those wonderful Harlem stories. Harlem born Canada Lee met and was an influence on H. Jack Geiger, founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Continue reading

Canada Lee Born in Harlem (video)

Lee was born as 'Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata on March 3, 1907 in Harem, New York City. He was raised by his West Indian parents in Harlem, NY.Continue reading