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
Women in jazz and bandleader. Pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong (1898–1971) was originally a member of King Oliver's band with Louis Armstrong and went on to play piano in Armstrong's band the Hot Five and then his next group, the Hot Seven. Valaida Snow (1904–1956) became so famous as a trumpet player that she was known as "Little Louis". It was not until the 1930s and 1940s that many women jazz singers such as Billie Holiday were recognized as successful artists in the music world. These women were persistent in striving to make their names known in the music industry and lead the way