Description

Through weekly radio broadcasts on the station WHN, The Cotton Club and Ellington’s Orchestra attained widespread recognition. Some of these broadcasts were recorded and released on records. Some of the most well-known blues and jazz artists of their era, including Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and many others, performed at the Cotton Club.

The Cotton Club was forced to close due to the 1935 Harlem race riots, and it didn’t return until late 1936 at 48th Street and Broadway.