Brownian Motion

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Howard Solomon, 75, Owner of Famed Village Nightclub, Dies By JESSE McKINLEY Published: June 16, 2004 [H] oward Solomon, the mild-mannered owner of the Cafe au Go Go nightclub in Greenwich Village who became an unlikely First Amendment crusader when he was arrested with the comedian Lenny Bruce on obscenity charges in 1964, died on June 3 at his home in Crestline, Calif. He was 75. The cause was a heart attack, said his son Jason Solomon. At the height of the 1960's music scene, Mr. Solomon's basement club on Bleecker Street played host to dozens of influential music stars, including John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, B. B. King, the Blues Project, Stan Getz and Joni Mitchell. Renowned for its fine brick-wall acoustics and groovy coffee concoctions (no alcohol was served), the club was the site for numerous recordings, both official and bootlegged, particularly of the blues performers who favored the club. But perhaps no performance was better remembered than Mr. Bruce's appearance on April 3, 1964, just two months after the club's opening. Mr. Bruce, who had already been charged with obscenity and narcotics charges in California and obscenity charges in Chicago, was arrested before he even hit the stage for his 10 p.m. slot. Mr. Solomon and Elly Solomon, then his wife, joined Mr. Bruce in handcuffs. They soon learned that vice officers had attended and recorded two of Mr. Bruce's shows at the cafe earlier in the week to make their case. Mr. Bruce, then 38, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on $1,000 bail. Mr. Solomon, then 35, was charged with allowing an obscene act to be performed in his club; he also pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. The next day, Mr. Bruce returned to the cafe and played to a partisan crowd, who watched him gently thumb his nose at authority by spelling out the dirty words in his act rather than pronouncing them. Still, three days later, Mr. Bruce was again arrested on obscenity charges. The case went to trial that summer before a three-judge panel in Criminal Court. The defense for Mr. Bruce, who was ill with pleurisy, called more than a dozen artists and critics to the stand to defend his act and Mr. Solomon's right to present it, but to no avail. On Nov. 4, 1964, the panel reached a guilty verdict, voting 2 to 1 against both Mr. Bruce and Mr. Solomon; Ms. Solomon was acquitted. Mr. Bruce was later sentenced to four months in jail, while Mr. Solomon faced a $1,000 fine or 60 days in jail. Both men continued to fight the convictions in court, though Mr. Bruce's fight ended in August 1966, when he was found dead in Hollywood Hills, Calif., of a morphine overdose. He was 40. Mr. Solomon won an appeal in 1965, and in February 1968 his conviction was overturned by a state appellate court. That decision was later upheld by the New York State's highest court. Mr. Bruce's conviction of criminal obscenity remained officially on the books until last December, when he was granted a pardon by Gov. George E. Pataki. Mr. Solomon sold the Cafe au Go Go in 1969 and moved to Florida, where he worked quietly as a real estate developer in the Coconut Grove section of Miami before retiring to California in the early 1990's. In addition to his son Jason, of West Hollywood, Calif., and his former wife, of Crestline, Calif., Mr. Solomon is survived by another son, Sheppard Solomon, of London; a daughter, Candace Solomon, of New York City; a sister, Iris Poland, of West Palm Beach, Fla.; and a grandson. One of Mr. Solomon's contemporaries, Manny Roth, the onetime owner of the Cafe Wha?, said Mr. Solomon's stand had been an inspiration. "We had crusaders down there, but he wasn't one of them," Mr. Roth said. "But Howard went to bat for Lenny."

The created-late-in-life masterwork of a musician not yet born.

When I first began listening to jazz, around 1960, I could count on my fingers and toes the number of reissues of 1920s, 1930s and 1940s jazz then available on lp. Such peerless and important performers as Hawk, Fletcher Henderson, Bill Coleman, Benny Carter, Earl Hines, Red Allen, Luis Russell, James P. Johnson, and many more were neglected entirely. Today by contrast the riches embarress. Virtually every jazz recording made before 1950 is now on CD, and the career of every important jazz muscian of the early years can be traced in as much detail as his or her recorded legacy permits. So I find it hard to work up much indignation over centennials ingnored. After all, it's really about the music and not the packaging, and happily we've got the music.

I seldom miss a chance to blow Bill Coleman's horn. Bill Coleman, August 22, 2002 Reviewer: moldyfig (see more about me) from State College, PA United States Trumpeter Coleman, strongly influenced by Louis Armstrong, belongs to that generation of jazz musicians (He was born in 1904) who set the standard for instrumental performance in the 1930s. But for the fact that he spent 80% of his career in Europe he would today be one of the icons of early jazz, comparable in stature to Coleman Hawkins, Red Allen, or Benny Carter. Unlike so many of his contemporaries Coleman was a true long distance runner: this date, recorded in England in 1967, finds him in great form, not at all enfeebled by advancing age. Listen to him on the old warhorse "Indiana", a song he must have played a thousand times before this: he effortlessly spins off four hot choruses, sings a couple more (the second scatted and very boppish), and then, after a piano interlude, takes it out with a pair of choruses that are like an instruction manual on swing and swinging. A welcome release.

I loved his recording of Naima, which I enjoyed several times before my cat jumped on the the record while it was playing; that would have been around the mid-1960s. I haven't heard much of him since then.

I like the General's take on this. http://tinyurl.com/33mdu We're not misogynists after all Dear President Hoffman, It's hard being a manly Christian man these days. You have to watch every word you say or you'll be hauled before the PC police. You can't even say something like, "Hey 'cunt,' get me a beer," without people screaming "misogynist." It's funny that it took a Republican woman like yourself to change all that. That's what you did the other day when you said that "cunt" was a term of endearment. I salute you for doing it. Sure, there will be those who will say that you were just cynically covering your butt because your athletic program allowed male football players to use that word to sexually harass a female football player, but anyone who would say that is just a "cunt" anyway. Certainly, no real men, no rugged, manly, Christian individualists are making that argument. That's a debate for women and sissies. It's an argument for "cunts." In any event, it was a brave act on your part--one that is unlikely to win you friends in the academic world. To hell with those who can't grasp what you've accomplished. You've advanced traditional patriarchal values farther than any man could, now it's time to get back into the kitchen. Heterosexually yours, General JC Christian, patriot posted by Gen. JC Christian, Patriot | 12:14 AM

Francoise Gilot. Oceanic Woman. 1986

And don't forget "Alabama Jubilee".

Another American woman who was drawn to the East was Bertha Lum (1867-1954). This blockprint, "Theatre", dates from 1907.

All trumpet players are underrated. Unless they're overerrated.

Since about 1959. My first couple of album purchases were "The Bix Beiderbecke Legend" and "A Rare Batch of Satch". There was virtually no classic jazz available in reissue in those days.

Another early bop trumpet who was still playing well in the 1960s was Idrees Sulieman, who began his career as Leonard Graham. His best recording, from the few I've heard, was a Coleman Hawkins date from 1957, featuring J.J. Johnson and a splendid rhythm section.

Astounding post.

You could always move to Canada. They've instituted a neat idea there called national health insurance.

I'm impressed that I've never heard of this guy. Another trumpet who labored mostly in obscurity was Webster Young. He must have had personal problems. I'd also like to put in a good word for Peanuts Holland, who moved to France after WWII but apparently recorded rarely. Holland had decent chops and a wealth of invention, although his tone was sub-par.

Lilian Miller, whose woodblock print I began this thread with, was born in Japan in 1895, the daughter of the American Counsel. She began formal art lessons from Japanese masters at a young age, came to the US for college, but afterwards returned to Japan and then followed her family to Korea. By the mid-1930s mounting medical problems forced her to leave the East for Hawaii, where she died in 1943. She was unusual among Japanese printmakers in not only designing her prints, but also in cutting and printing the blocks. This print dates from the late 1920s.

Another 1950s player who was highly regarded as an underrated player in his own day was Phil Sunkel. Stu Williamson was an interesting player who got dragged down by drugs. And Dick Cary, who mainly played piano and arranged, was also a pretty good trumpet player, though his recordings are rare.

Bill Coleman and Doc Cheathem.

It's time for my annual plug for Jimmy McPartland, who was capable of a lot more than many of his records indicate. In particular I'll single out a date with Marion and her bassist and drummer, and a guitarist, Jimmy Raney I think, playing Hoagy Carmichael's music. Fine, sensitive playing.

Well, I'll surely agree with Shorty Baker. But Buck? That cat was the most recorded trumpet of the swing era, 'ceptin' Roy. How about Shad Collins, Emmett Berry, or Ernie Royal? Snooky Young?

Donald Byrd is my nominee for the most over-recorded trumpet player of all time; he never missed a date and could always be depended on to play three notes when one would suffice.

Wilbur Harden Ray Codrington Al Aarons

Marion Post Wolcott. FSA. 1941