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
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong collaborations lyrical phrasing, and vocal intonation; her instrument-like improvisational ability with her voice, particularly in her scat singing, proved popular with many audiences. In the 1950s, the depth and scope of her many releases had already attracted major attention. Many critics of the time regarded her as one of the best female vocalists still making music. Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971) was an African-American jazz singer and trumpeter as well as composer who ended up being one of the most pivotal and influential figures in not just jazz-related styles but across popular music. His career spanned five