Cotton Club Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub located in Harlem on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue from 1923 to 1935, then briefly in the midtown Theater District from 1936 to 1940. The club operated most notably during the United States' era of Prohibition. The club was a whites-only establishment, but featured many of the most popular black entertainers of the era, including musicians Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Fats Waller, Willie Bryant; vocalists Adelaide Hall, Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Aida Ward, Avon Long, the Dandridge Sisters, the
Savoy Ballroom (Chicago) Savoy Ballroom (Chicago) The Savoy Ballroom in Chicago, United States was opened on Thanksgiving Eve, November 23, 1927 at 4733 South Parkway. Originally featuring primarily Jazz artists, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, the Savoy also hosted other activities, such as boxing, figure skating, and basketball exhibitions featuring the Savoy Big Five, who would later change their name to the Harlem Globetrotters. From 1927 until 1940, there was continuous music supplied by two bands per night. When one band took a break, the other would go on.