A Celebration of Bronzeville’s Finale Club: October 11, 2020
Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tommy Potter, Duke Jordan, Max Roach
Photo: William P. Gottlieb
Sunday, October 11, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. (YouTube Channel)
This live public program is free and open to all. Go to JANM’s YouTube channel at 2:00 PM (PDT) on October 11th to watch it live.
This program is a partnership between Little Tokyo Historical Society and the Japanese American National Museum.
Watch now: Finale Club program supported by JANM
In March 1946, an important moment in jazz history took place when Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, two all-time jazz greats, performed together at the Finale Club in Bronzeville/Little Tokyo. Two of the most influential figures in jazz history are Charlie Parker (aka “The Bird”), sax virtuoso and composer who introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz; and Miles Davis, jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer who led major stylistic developments in jazz. LTHS invites you to experience the rich artistic and musical history of Little Tokyo during the Bronzeville Era in a celebration of music, Bronzeville scholars, photos and videos. Special guests include Hillary Jenks, Kirk Silsbee, Ron Kobayashi Band, and brief words by Miles’ Davis son Erin Davis.
The imprisonment of Japanese Americans into camps during WWII turned Little Tokyo into a ghost town. Thousands of African Americans coming to LA for defense jobs moved into Little Tokyo - one of the only areas without restrictive housing covenants. Bronzeville was born.
Dozens of all night “Breakfast Clubs” sprang up in Bronzeville, patronized by jazz musicians from the Central Avenue jazz scene eager to continue making music after hours, along with late night jazz aficionados. The Finale Club opened in the fall of 1944 at 230 ½ E. First Street.
LTHS recognizes the important historic circumstances of exclusion and discrimination shared by the Japanese American and African American communities which led to the unique creation of Little Tokyo/Bronzeville. An LA City plaque has been installed at The Finale Club site to memorialize and educate music lovers about the extraordinary and rare performance of jazz greats Charlie Parker and Miles Davis at The Finale Club; and to honor the continued relationship between our communities.
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