Founded by a group of suffragists (The League for Political Education) seeking to build a space where the people could be educated, The Town Hall was built in 1921, designed by renowned architects McKim, Mead & White to reflect the democratic principles of the League. Box seats were eliminated and no seats had an obstructed view giving birth to the term "Not a bad seat in the house."
Margaret Sanger was famously arrested on Town Hall’s stage during a public meeting on birth control. She was an avid supporter of women’s sexual rights, and founded the American Birth Control League, now known as Planned Parenthood.
15 December with Elizabeth Schumann, soprano
24 December with Elena Gerhardt, soprano
31 December with George Meader, tenor
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) for a remarkably long time—60 years—was one of the dominant figures on the European musical scene. He was a prolific German composer. Among his numerous works were 15 operas, several ballets, symphonies, concertos, chamber music, choral works and song.
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was the son of a former slave who made his name on stage in The Emperor Jones, All God's Children, Showboat, Black Boy, Porgy & Bess, The Hairy Ape and Othello. His first concert appearance was singing black spirituals in New York City. He toured the U.S. and Europe. His films include: The Emperor Jones, Sanders of the River, Show Boat and the Proud Valley.
Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was a Spanish cellist, conductor and composer who achieved worldwide acclaim as a virtuoso. He made his Barcelona debut at 14, played for heads of state from Queen Victoria to President Kennedy, established the Prades Festival, and died in Puerto Rico in self-imposed exile from Spain.
with Martha Graham, Pearl Wheeler, Betty May, Leonore Schefler, Julia Bennett, Mary Lynn, Louise Brooks, Charles Weidman and Robert Gorham.
American dancer and teacher, Ruth St. Denis (1879-1968) started her career as a vaudeville, musical comedy dancer and actor. St. Denis influenced almost every phase of American dance with the introduction of philosophical themes and Asian dance styles and costumes. She founded the Society of Spiritual Arts in 1931 and "promoted the dance as a sacred art."
Andres Segovia (1893-1987) was a self-taught musician recognized as the preeminent exponent of the Spanish guitar and responsible for restoring the instrument to prominence in classical music. In 1909 he began a musical career that spanned nearly eight decades, touring internationally.
Unable to get a hall in Boston the Sacco -Vanzetti Memorial Committee and the ACLU booked The Town Hall. The memorial was held on the second anniversary of the political radicals arrested in 1920 on the charge of murdering a shoe factory guard in South Braintree, MA during a robbery. Though convicted in 1921, their appeal generated doubt about their guilt and led to widespread support and worldwide protests. After their execution in 1927 after a special committee found the trial to be unfair in their execution.
Austrian tenor Richard Tauber’s (1891-1948) sweet and superbly managed voice, full of musicianship, was especially well suited for the Mozartian tenor roles. Fame came almost instantly for him, and he also gained critical acclaim as both a composer and conductor. He was known to have completed an orchestral suite, two operettas and dozens of art songs.
Russian composer, pianist and conductor Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) was noted for his command of the emotional gesture and loyalty to the finer Russian Romanticism inherited from Tchaikovsky and his teachers. His orchestral works include three symphonies, four piano concertos and three symphonic poems.
Assisting artist: John Corigliano, violinist
Widely considered the greatest singing actor of his day Fydor Chaliapan (1873-1938) was largely self-taught and his talents included painting and sculpture as well. As far as his own make-up, costuming and musical and dramatic preparation were concerned, he was a perfectionist and untiring in his attention to the staging of the operas in which he took part.
After 14 years of exile, Emma Goldman made her first stateside public appearance at Town Hall. Arrested by request of J. Edgar Hoover, naturalized citizen Goldman was among the 249 "aliens" deported in 1919 under the Anarchist Exclusion Act. Excited to experience Bolshevist Russia first-hand, Goldman would soon come to question and critique the abuses of power she witnessed, settling in Germany for years and publishing two books on her disillusionment with the revolution. Back in the U.S. on a 90 day visa that prohibited any political lecturing, Goldman's used her time at Town Hall to eulogize her mentor Peter Kropotkin, condemn Hitler and publicly reiterate her commitment to anarchy.
When America's Town Meeting of the Air originally started broadcasts, it was on an experimental basis, but the show quickly became enormously popular. Experts - including a fair share of celebrities - would discuss topical questions, but what really set the show apart was the large amount of audience participation.
Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands and raised in California, conductor Antonio Brico made her conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. She was soon touring the world largely as a guest conductor, making her New York debut at the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1934, Brico founded the Women’s Symphony and with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Brico and the all-female orchestra made their debut at Town Hall. Brico went on to be the first woman to conduct the New York Philharmonic. Watch Antonia: A Portrait Of The Woman, the Oscar- nominated documentary about the pioneering conductor, co-directed by one of her piano students, Judy Collins.
The child prodigy who made her debut at age five and was acclaimed by European critics. Ruth Slenczynska’s (1925-) book of memoirs Forbidden Child recounts the troubles of a child prodigy's life.
Kosti Vehanen at the piano
After being denied an operatic career because of discrimination against African-Americans, Marian Anderson (1897-1993) made her New York debut at The Town Hall. World famous contralto, Ms. Anderson went on to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 (after being denied access to Washington's Constitution Hall), and become the first African-American to perform at New York's Metropolitan Opera. Her numerous awards include: The Congressional Gold Medal and the American Freedom Medal.
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt appeared as Chairman on "America’s Town Meeting of the Air." The topic was “Young America Looks Forward,” with outreach to a wide-variety of high schools and colleges bringing to bring them into the discussion, and solidifying Town Hall’s connection with, and concern for, education of the city’s youth.
Town Hall has long been a place where musicians make their New York debut. Famed violinist Isaac Stern made his New York debut here in 1937, and returned for another concert in 1939. Stern could perform a concert from memory lasting sixteen hours, as his repertoire included fourteen concertos, fifteen sonatas, and a hundred smaller pieces.
Alice Tully, U.S. singer, music promoter, and philanthropist, for whom the famous Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center is named, performed here at Town Hall. A lifelong patron of the arts, she donated millions of dollars throughout her life, often anonymously. Tully was awarded both the Handel Medallion and The National Medal of the Arts for her contributions to the cultural and artistic climate of New York City.
Frank LaForge, composer-pianist at the piano
Frances Blaisdell, flautist and The Renaissance Quintet
French-American coloratura soprano Lily Pons (1904-1976) was known as the reigning diva at the Metropolitan Opera for 25 years.
In 1934, encouraged by a visitor to their Austrain home, Lotte Lehman, the von Trapp family entered a folk singing competition where they garnered a prize and the attention of radio broadcasters. The family toured Austria for the next three years before venturing into other European nations. The family dropped the von and headed to the U.S., where they would make their New York debut at Town Hall. With two dates in 1938, the Trapp Family Choir made Town Hall their New York concert home, performing 15 Christmas concerts before their 1955 farewell.
Billie Holiday performed at the fourth Town Hall Jazz Concert. Holiday would return in 1948 for her first major solo show.
(Photo by Chuck Stewart)
Langston Hughes discussed how “the Race Question” should be handled in America. Although discussing “a question that [was] considered by some timid souls to be dangerous,” the speakers were able to stir up a thoughtful debate which could inspire people around the country to engage in this important inquiry.
9, 16, 23 & 30 September 1944—Live Recording
Comprising programs 17, 18, 19 & 20
From 1944 to 1945 Eddie Condon (1905-1973) lead a series of recordings at Town Hall that were broadcast weekly on the radio. Condon opened his own club in 1945, and recorded for Columbia in the 1950s. He was one of the gang of young white Chicago jazz musicians in the 1920s. After organizing some record sessions, Condon switched to guitar, and moved to New York in 1929 he lead some sessions for the Commodore label and he became a star.
In an unusual debate in which all four speakers were in agreement, Former Mayor of New York Fiorello LaGuardia visited The Town Hall to participate in a discussion of how the people of America could help solve the world food crisis. This Town Meeting received the more mail and questions than any had before, showing the deep concerns that people had throughout the country.
Diz and Bird were joined by Max Roach in this 1945 concert, the record of which was not initially released, either due to the controversial nature of bebop at the time, or simply because the record was misplaced. Either way, we’re very happy that this legendary concert is now available for us to listen to! (More info here and here.)
Ten years after her sudden death, Town Hall hosted a memorial for Bessie Smith in 1947, which included the premiere of a 16 minute, two-reel film that was thought to be lost forever. Produced by the "father of the blues" W.C. Handy and directed by experimental filmmaker Dudley Murphy, St. Louis Blues (1929) is based on the story of the title song, with Bessie playing a woman left by her philandering lover. In 2006 the film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". St. Louis Blues is Bessie Smith's only film appearance.
Joseph R. McCarthy joins Elis Arnall, Edward Arthur Hayes and Leo Cherne
Moderator: George V. Denny, Jr.
Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) was an American senator who accused many individuals of subversive activities and roused considerable public support for investigations and persecutions carried on by the House of Un-American Activities committee. His campaign of slander gave rise to the term "McCarthyism."
Clare Boothe Luce joins Charles P. Taft and Walter White. Interrogators: Max Lerner and Moderator: George V. Denny, Jr.
American playwright, congresswoman and ambassador, Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1978) was the managing editor of Vanity Fair, war correspondent for Life magazine, and a member of the US House of Representatives. She was the second woman to serve as US Ambassador. The recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, her plays include: The Women, Kiss The Boys Goodbye and Margin for Error.
Hubert Humphrey and Owen Brewster
Moderator: George V. Denny, Jr.
Hubert Humphrey (1911-1978) was a Senator from Minnesota and Vice President under Lyndon Johnson. He was unsuccessful as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1968; but was elected in 1970 to the United States Senate and reelected in 1976.
Burl Ives played for a full house, with hits like "Frankie and Johnnie" and "Lolly Too Dum Day". Per audience demand, he played seven encores.
Program: The Three Penny Opera in concert version as well as excerpts from One Touch of Venus, Knickerbocker Holiday, and Mahagonny
Austrian singer and actor Lotte Lenya (1898-1981) gained fame as Jenny in the Berlin production and film version of Brecht and Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper. She also created the roles of Anna in Die Sieben Todsurden, Miriam in the Eternal Road, The Duchess in The Firebrand of Florence, and appeared in the films From Russia with Love and Cabaret.
Duke Ellington performed at Town Hall at a benefit concert for the Fresh Air Fund, an agency providing free country vacations to New York City children. This is emblematic of Town Hall's commitment to community service, as well as support of the jazz community.
(Photo by Raymond Ross Photography)
Leading flamenco guitarist, Carlos Montoya (1903 -1993) began playing in Cafes Cantantes at age 14. He toured Europe, Asia and the US playing major concert halls with leading symphonic orchestras.
Internationally known opera singer Betty Allen made her New York recital debut at Town Hall. Allen was part of the first wave of African American opera singers to appear on the world's most prominent stages, aiding the breaking down of racial barriers in the operatic community.
Acclaimed as one of the greatest sopranos of her time, Leontyne Price (1927-) has been called the "girl with the golden voice," and "the Stradivarius of singers." She caught Virgil Thomson's attention when he heard her sing in a student production at Julliard, and he invited her to sing in the Broadway revival of his opera Four Saints in Three Acts. Her debut was at The Town Hall in 1954
Pandit Ravi Shankar made his New York solo concert hall debut at Town Hall in 1957. An acolyte of Ustad Allauddin Khan, Shankar worked for All India Radio and scored films, including the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray. During a trip to New York, Shankar recorded in the same studio as The Byrds, who introduced him to their friend George Harrison. Shankar's association with The Beatles catapulted him to international stardom. He was one of the few acts to perform at both Monterey Pop and Woodstock. Shankar trained his daughter, Grammy- nominated sitarist Anoushka Shankar, who has performed to rave reviews and sold-out audiences at Town Hall several times over the last decade.
"To me, Sammy Davis Jr. is probably the greatest entertainer in the whole world". These words from Jack Benny are the first sounds on Davis' live recording from Town Hall, his first live album, recorded on May 4th 1958, but released in 1959, a landmark year in Davis' career. The child star and tap phenomenon, filmed both Porgy and Bess and Ocean's 11 in 1959, the latter catapulting a group of performers to shared fame as The Rat Pack.
Thelonious Monk introduced a new band at this iconic performance. Having previously been known as an outstanding leader of smaller bands, Monk was joined by ten musicians at his Town Hall show.
Billie Holiday made her solo concert debut at Town Hall to a sold out crowd. Reportedly, hundreds of seats were added onstage and over a thousand people were turned away. Solo concerts by jazz singers were very rare, but inspired by Lotte Lenya’s Town Hall concerts, Holiday and her team put together a nineteen song, lieder-style recital that would serve as the basis of her performances for the rest of her career. Holiday’s last major public appearance in the United States was September 13, 1958 at Town Hall. Holiday died on July 17, 1959.
May 1, 1959. After working clubs and opening for acts such as Eartha Kitt and Mort Sahl, legendary comedy duo Elaine May and Mike Nichols made their headlining theater debut at Town Hall. Nichols and May performed their witty skits and improvisational dialogues to rave reviews and two sold-out audiences. Within a few years, they were television regulars with best-selling comedy albums and a hit show at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway. In a conversation with May decades later, Nichols noted: "The best show we did was in Town Hall.
This celebrated album showcases Nina Simone’s impeccable skills as both a singer and a pianist, and is widely considered as some of her very best work. In 2006, Simone’s daughter performed a tribute concert at Town Hall honoring her mother.
Igor Stravinsky was recognized as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky performed at Town Hall with four other composers - Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, and Roger Sessions - who joined him on stage to pay tribute. (Photo by Arn Newman)
Thelonious Monk introduced a new band at this iconic performance. Having previously been known as an outstanding leader of smaller bands, Monk was joined by ten musicians at his Town Hall show.
The Citizens’ Committee for the Morningside Mental Hygiene Clinic brought together a group of the biggest names in entertainment to fundraise for the interracial, non-sectarian adult treatment program. Sidney Poitier and Wendy Barrie hosted. Harry Belafonte, Diahann Carroll, Miriam Makeba, Ossie Davis and Don Shirley are some of the stars who participated.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) presented soprano Coretta Scott King in a program of hymns and freedom songs interspersed with text. During her college years, she had seen Paul Robeson perform political commentary between songs and structured her performance around this template. The New England Conservatory-trained King had not sung publicly in over two years, but with her Town Hall performance embarked on a tour to raise funds for the SNLC. Critically acclaimed, King’s performance at Town Hall is also where she met and began a life-long friendship with the Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement, Dorothy Height.
In 1960, the American Committee on Africa declared April 13th Africa Freedom Day. Celebrating the recent independence of eight nations, the Committee’s program at Town Hall was also a protest of the regime in South Africa. Thurgood Marshall joined Kenneth Kaunda, President of Northern Rhodesia, and other African leaders in calling for a boycott of South Africa and raising money for the South Africa Emergency Campaign, which provided support to the survivors of the Sharpeville massacre and legal aid for imprisoned activists. The honorary chairs of the event were Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Belafonte, A. Philip Randolph, Jackie Robinson, Walter Reuther and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Committee of Artists and Writers for Justice sponsored a memorial service for Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11), the four African American girls killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. Carol Denise's parents Maxine and Christopher McNair attended were in attendance. James Baldwin, Odetta, Louis Lomax, Carol Brice, Ruby Dee and Don Shirley were among the participants. Lomax, among others questioned MLK's non-violent strategy and many in attendance condemned President Kennedy and the federal government for their lack of passion in response to the attack. Baldwin called for a Christmas boycott "until this nation earns the right to celebrate the birth of Christ."
On April 12, 1963 at Town Hall, Bob Dylan played his first major concert. Over a thousand people attended and Dylan played mostly original and unknown songs from his forthcoming album, songs like Blowin in the Wind and Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.
The New York Times reviewed the concert, and Robert Shelton wrote "Mr. Dylan is 21 years old, hails from Hibbing, Minnesota, wears blue jeans, presumably has little to do with barbers, and resembles a Holden Caulfield who got lost in the Dust Bowl." He concluded by thanking legendary promoter Harold Leventhal "for straying from the sure box-office attractions to present a young giant."
Judy Collins invited her friend and fellow songwriter Leonard Cohen to perform at a benefit for the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. Collins had recorded Cohen’s “Suzanne” and planned to have them perform it as a duet. Cohen, an unsure performer, made it through half of the song before walking off of the stage. Collins followed him and brought him back out to complete the performance. They received rapturous applause and Cohen continued to write and perform until his death, five decades later. Considering one of the greatest songs ever, Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (1984) is one of the most covered songs in popular music history and is the subject of several books and documentaries.
Twenty-four-year-old folksinger Judy Collins’ performance at Town Hall in New York City on March 21, 1964, was billed as her first concert, which is to say, her first appearance in a theater, as opposed to the folk clubs she was accustomed to playing. It was a big step up for a performer who was just releasing her third album and was gradually moving from a traditional repertoire to one consisting largely of songs written by her contemporaries, many of them having a political bent.
At an event sponsored by The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Mississippi Project Parents Committee, Fannie Lou Hamer, sharecropper and vice-chairman of the Mississippi Freedom Party, filled the hall with her story of the brutal beatings she endured by the police trying to register black voters. The very next day, Fannie Lou Hamer gave the same testimony before the Credentials Committee at the Democratic National Convention. Her speech is considered one of the landmark moments of the civil rights movement. Her words at Town Hall: “I only have one question. Is this America, where we can go along and be beat up without any Federal intervention in the State of Mississippi?”
Grammy-winning folksinger, national treasure, and untiring environmentalist, Pete Seeger (1919-) has been at the forefront of the labor movement, the struggle for Civil Rights, the peace and anti-war movements, and the fight for a clean world. Pete Seeger has been a beacon for hope for millions of people all over the world and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
João Gilberto made his New York solo concert debut at Town Hall on October 25, 1964, performing his own songs and those of other innovators in Bossa Nova Gilberto’s debut album, Chega de Saudade (1959), revolutionized Brazilian music and is often cited as the first Bossa Nova recording. The Bahia- born Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist began an artistic relationship with American saxophonist Stan Getz that would produced Getz/Gilberto (1963), the first jazz album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Recorded by Astrid Gilberto, then his wife, The Girl from Ipanema won Record of the Year and is the second most recorded song in the history of pop music.
After a few weeks of meetings and lectures across the States, Thich Nhất Hạnh held a farewell event at Town Hall. Rabbi Abraham Heschel, playwright Arthur Miller, and poets Ishmael Reed, and Father Dan Berrigan participated in the event sponsored by the International Committee of Conscience on Vietnam of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Earlier during his stay, Nhất Hạnh met with Martin Luther King, Jr and encouraged him to publicly denounce the Vietnam War. A year later King did so and nominated Nhất Hạnh for the Nobel Peace Prize.
This album features the pairing of two generations of sophisticated cabaret singers -- Mabel Mercer and Bobby Short -- in a concert at Manhattan's Town Hall on May 19, 1968. The inspired idea of having these two work together belonged to promoter George Wein. The first LP belonged to Short, who, backed by his usual cohorts, bassist Beverly Peer and drummer Dick Sheridan, turned in an appealing set that began with a quartet of Cole Porter songs and went on to a couple of Cy Coleman songs, and then some jazzier and bluesier material. Mercer's set, heard on the second disc, includes her precise rendering of a set of light, romantic lyrics and winning melodies, also dipping into the Porter and Coleman songbooks, kept the audience transfixed. The two returned together for the encore to duet playfully on "The 59th Street Bridge Song" and Coleman's "Here's to Us."
The Association of Artists for Freedom, founded in response to the Birmingham bombing, sponsored a forum on the tensions between black activists and white liberals in the civil right movement. The black writers expressed frustrations with the pace of the civil rights movement--most notably, Lorraine Hansberry. The three white writers were outraged by the militancy expressed and the press generally agreed with them. This program at Town Hall was Lorraine Hansberry’s last public appearance before succumbing to pancreatic cancer in January 1965. Her words from the evening: “We have to find some way to persuade the white liberal to stop being a liberal and become an American radical.”
Authors James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka came together to raise money for the New-Ark Fund in support of Ken Gibson’s Newark mayoral campaign. Baldwin and Baraka read their work and gave speeches with Baraka summing up the sentiment of the audience: “We are constantly harassed by a city government that’s already been indicted, by criminals who are trying to make us convicts.” Ken Gibson went on to be the first black mayor of Newark, a majority-black city, and the first black president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Amiri Baraka’s son, Ras Baraka, is currently the mayor of Newark.
Shortly after the publication of “The Prisoner of Sex,” Norman Mailer took the stage at Town Hall for a debate against Jacqueline Ceballos, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston and Diana Trilling. Celaballos was interrupted by a screaming Gregory Corso, Greer was accused of elitism by protesters in and outside of the hall, and Johnson kissed and rolled around with two women onstage. Betty Friedan and Susan Sontag spoke from the crowd, as Arthur Schlesinger, Cynthia Ozick, Anatole Broyard and other famous New Yorkers watched. In 1979, Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker released a documentary about the evening entitled 'Town Bloody Hall."
Meredith Monk made her Town Hall debut with her work "Our Lady of Late", composed in 1972 to a dance by performance artist William Dunas. Performing with Collin Walcott, Monk sat on stage, straddling a stool with a microphone directed towards her and another for the glass of water that sat on the stool. In this piece, Monk's exploration of a vocal sounds would prove instrumental in the practice of extended vocal technique, a major development in the history of 20th century art music. "Our Lady of Late" would go on to be recorded and performed in various iterations over the next four decades.
On September 11, 1973 Salvador Allende committed suicide during a military coup by led by General Augusto Pinochet. Hortensia Bussi de Allende, the President's widow, was slated to speak at the Town Hall rally while in town for a United Nations deposition, but the State Department barred her from participating. Actor Ossie Davis chaired the rally, where organizers accused the CIA of supporting the junta and demanding the release of political prisoners. Under Pinochet's 17 dictatorship, thousands of Chileans died or disappeared, while over 200,000 became refugees. The declassification of CIA documents proved what many thought: that the United States had actively aided Pinochet's regime.
Bette Davis appears in the first of the "Legendary Ladies" series dreamed up by veteran film publicist John Springer, the idea - to present great scenes from her greatest movies and then to meet the lady herself. Others that appeared in the series are Joan Crawford, Sylvia Sydney, Myrna Loy, and later, Rosalind Russell and Lana Turner.
Joan Crawford makes her last public appearance in the "Legendary Ladies" at the Movies series. The series presented great scenes from the legends greatest movies and then introduced the lady herself. To read a transcript of the evening, click here.
Written over the course of four years, Music in Twelve Parts is arguably the most ambitious composition written by Philip Glass. Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble over the course of six hours, the avant-garde piece took inspiration from Indian ragas, utilizing repetition and mantra-like vocals in parts that could be performed in any sequence. Glass sites Music in Twelve Parts as a breakthrough work for him; a work with ideas that he would continue to explore for years. Just as in the 1974 debut, the Philip Glass Ensemble performed the piece in 2018 with one 90 minute dinner break and two 15 minute intermissions.
Less than a year after Duke Ellington's passing, his old friend banded with his son to recreate the sound and feel of the Cotton Club at its height. Mercer Ellington led the Duke Ellington Orchestra, an outfit of young musicians, none of whom had performed with the elder Ellington. Cab Calloway, singer, dancer and bandleader performed in his signature tails and a yellow zoot suit, bringing the audience to its feet for the Hi De Hos of his hit "Minnie the Moocher". Mama Lu Parks' Lindy Hoppers rounded out the program with their virtuosity and acrobatics, taking Town Hall back to the social dances of Harlem in the 20s.
After guest appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, SNL alum Andy Kaufman made his New York concert hall debut at Town Hall. The show opened with Tony Clifton, the vegas lounge singer alter-ego before Kaufman performed as himself singing and dancing to "Oklahoma" and performing his famous bits like Mighty Mouse, Foreign Man (later to become Taxi’s Latka) and Elvis. Kaufman ended it with his cover of Fabian's hit single "This Friendly World." Kaufman's cover became iconic and was played at his own funeral in 1984. Thankful for this friendly, friendly world.
Performs 3 concerts:
12 & 15 Feb: Einstein on the Beach, 1st Complete Concert Version
13 Feb: Music with Chaing Parts, Music with Similar Motion
14 Feb: Music in 12 Parts
American composer and musician, Philip Glass (1937-) discovered an interest in Indian music when working with Ravi Shankar in Paris. Indian rhythms influenced a series of ensemble pieces, which, though they vary considerably in density, all share the technique of extending and contracting rhythmic figures in a stable diatonic framework. Famous for his opera Einstein on the Beach
From Elisabeth Welch who made her Broadway debut 50 years earlier in Cole Porter's The New Yorkers to the recently-Tony nominated Gregory Hines, Black Broadway brought together several generations of the nation's greatest stage performers. The performers included tap royalty like Cookie Cook, John W. Bubbles and Bubba Gaines, one of the "Aristocrats of Tap". Town Hall-regular Bobby Short led a bare-bones, cabaret style production where Adelaide Hall, Edith Wilson, Nell Carter and the aforementioned Elisabeth Welch sang the songs that brought them fame, whilst also performing tributes to their deceased predecessors Florence Mills and Ethel Waters.
Saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. had achieved pop success with multiple gold and platinum records under his belt when tenor sax legend Sonny Rollins invited him to perform with him at Town Hall. Rollins, widely lauded as one of jazz's greatest improvisers admired the oft-maligned Washington, citing “Mister Magic” as one of the top ten tenor sax recordings of all time. Still Washington came on stage with his soprano sax, not his tenor, and followed Rollins lead throughout the program. A year later, high off of the success of his top ten hit with Bill Withers "Just the Two of Us", Washington took off for a joint tour with Rollins.
Harolyn Blackwell’s career began on Broadway in a revival of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story in 1980, but she soon discovered her true passion for opera and was selected as a finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1983. Soon after, she appeared in several productions at the MET. Blackwell’s radiant soprano and expressive performance style is renowned in opera and concert halls around the world. Throughout her 30-year career she has toured nationally and internationally with well-known opera companies and performed as part of many opera festivals, concert series and recitals, earning numerous awards and credentials as one of the brightest stars on the stage.
His first New York appearance in almost a decade, Terry Riley made his Town Hall debut with a program of solo improvisational performance and the premiere of three compositions written for Riley and the Kronos Quartet. "Sunrise for the Planetary Dream Collector", "G Song" and "Remember This O Mind", all written for voice, synthesizer and string quartet, were the first pieces that Riley had composed since his 1964 landmark work "In C" ushered in the minimalist movement. The decades-long collaboration between Terry Riley and the Kronos Quartet has resulted in 27 new works, critically acclaimed albums and a commission by NASA.
When the legendary Blue Note label was relaunched in the mid-'80s, this concert was part of the celebration. Miles Davis' classic rhythm section (Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Herbie Hancock) are reassembled here, capturing their early brilliance. Also featured on the recording are tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, flutist James Newton and vibraphonist Bobbie Hutercherson.
Phylicia Rashad (then Phylicia Ayers-Allen) made her solo stage debut in a concert entitled ''For Someone Special". A student of Swami Muktananda, Rashad's show mixed a jazz-style band with sitar and tablas and a tribute to guru Gurumayi Chidvilasananda. The year before, after a succession of small parts in musicals and on soap operas, Rashad landed the role of Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show. The show was the most successful show of the decade and one of the highest rated television programs in history. Rashad later returned to the stage and in 2004 became the first African American woman to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.
Sharon Isbin has been acclaimed for expanding the guitar repertoire with some of the finest new works of the century. She has commissioned and premiered more concerti than any other guitarist, as well as numerous solo and chamber works. Among the many other composers who have written for her are Joan Tower, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, Aaron Jay Kernis and Leo Brouwer. In 2003, Sharon Isbin premiered the Joan Baez Suite written for her by John Duarte.
Composer, singer, filmmaker, choreographer and director Meredith Monk (1942-) is a pioneer in what is now called "extended vocal technique" and "interdisciplinary performance." During a career that spans more than 30 years, she has created over 100 works and been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major creative force in the performing arts.
The Town Hall's Century of Change series presented the back alley musical, archy & mehitable, starring Taylor Dane and Lee Wilkof.
Taylor Dayne, American pop and freestyle music singer-songwriter and actress, made her Town Hall debut in archy & mehitabel, a revival of the musical with a book by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, lyrics by Darion, and music by George Kleinsinger. Based onarchy and mehitabel, a series of New York Tribune columns by Don Marquis, it focuses on poetic cockroach archy (who wasn't strong enough to depress the typewriter's shift-key), alley cat mehitabel, and her relationships with theatrical cat tyrone t. tattersal and tomcat big bill, under the watchful eye of the newspaperman, the voice-over narrator and only human being in the show
David Byrne made his Town Hall debut presenting a double bill of La Troupe Makandal and Eya Aranla, bands in the tradition of Haitian Vodou and Puerto Rican Santeria, respectively. Frisner Augustin, founder and leader of La Troupe Makandal, was a Haitian Vodou drumming virtuoso and is the only Haitian citizen to be awarded the National Heritage Fellowship, the United States's highest honor for folk artists. Milton Cardona, known for this work with salseros Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe, was the first practitioner in history to record a bembé, a Santeria ceremony. That night, Town Hall audiences experienced two priests perform sacred music.
This CD documents one of the first concerts by Gene Harris' star-studded big band, an orchestra heard at the beginning of an 80-day world tour. The straightforward arrangements (by John Clayton, Frank Wess, Torrie Zito, Bob Pronk and Lex Jasper) balance swingers with ballads. Among the more memorable tracks are Harry "Sweets" Edison's feature (both muted and open) on "Sleepy Time Down South," a pair of fine vocals apiece by Ernie Andrews and Ernestine Anderson, the roaring "Old Man River" and Harris' interpretation of Erroll Garner's ballad "Creme de Menthe." Toss in short solos from the likes of Ralph Moore, James Morrison (on trombone), Frank Wess, Michael Mossman and baritonist Gary Smulyan.
Quebecois singer Celine Dion was already a star in Canada, but upon the release of her third English album The Colour of My Love, she was primed to become a pop phenomenon in the U.S. and all over the world. In 1994, having already won a Grammy and Oscar for the duet "Beauty and the Beast" with Peabo Bryson, the 26 year old just had achieved her first number one single with "The Power of Love" and began her decade long dominance of the adult contemporary charts. Her U.S. solo debut was here at Town Hall, where she performed a mostly English set with multiple encores. Dion went on to sell over 200 million records over the course of her career.
The Town Hall Century of Change series presented Scott Joplin's opera TREEMONISHA with La-Rose Saxon, Eddy Pierce Young, Lisa Polite, Curtis Rayam, Clinton Ingram, Frederick Martell, Andre Solomon-Glover, Raymond Bazemore, John Anthony Melton Sawyer, Michael Lofton, and the Harlem School of the Arts Chorus.
The music on this CD comes from the June 24, 1992, concert at Town Hall in New York City, with a host of artists featured. Trumpeter Tom Harrell leads off with two fine originals, the turbulent "Journey to the Center" and the mellow but swinging "Weaver." His supporting cast includes ex-boss Phil Woods on alto sax, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, and pianist Jim McNeely, as well as bassist Peter Washington and drummer Bill Goodwin. Pianist Fred Hersch is next, beginning with a dazzling trio arrangement of Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti's "Nostalgia," with some superb arco cello by Erik Friedlander and powerful percussion from Tom Rainey. A captivating medley of two Hersch originals, "Child's Song" and "Forward Motion," and the humorous "Nostalgia," adding saxophonist Rich Perry, round out his set. Brazilian guitarist and singer Ana Caram, one of Chesky's most-recorded artists during the 1990s, shows why she had such strong appeal to a bossa nova crowd with her set. Woods returns to the stage to join Paquito D'Rivera and his band for a sensational two-clarinet version of "Birk's Works," and more.
Danny Glover hosted the 85th Birthday tribute to Katherine Dunham, "the queen mother of Black dance" and "dance Katherine the Great'. Dunham ran the Katherine Dunham Dance Company for decades, traveling around the world with her dancers, choreographing for the stage and Hollywoo films. The first African- American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera, Dunham ran a school in New York whose students included James Dean, Marlon Brando, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Shirley MacLaine. The tribute, presented by the Caribbean Cultural Center, included speeches by former Dunham dancers Eartha Kitt and Julie Belafonte, and performances by Max Roach and Tito Puente.
50 years after the meeting between Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs that birthed The Beat Generation,Town Hall hosted the living Beat writers and their descendants as part of New York University's "The Beat Generation: Legacy and Celebration". Ginsburg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso and Michael McClure were the Beats poets in attendance and all performed in their rhythmic, incantatory styles. Hunter S. Thompson, Anne Waldman, Ed Sanders, Jan Kerouac, David Amram and The Doors' Ray Manzarek participated. William Burroughs called in, stating his reason for staying at home in Kansas: 'My cats need me." Of the Beat writers who participated, only Corso remains.
Wayne Shorter's first New York concert in five years. Backed by his current septet -- with drums, percussion, electric bass, electric guitar and two keyboard setups joining Mr. Shorter's tenor and soprano saxophones -- performed radically rearranged pieces from his new album, "High Life" (Verve),
Oscar Peterson suffered a stroke in 1993 and made a partial comeback. Although his left hand was weakened, the pianist's right hand was powerful as ever, and he was able to mostly cover up his deficiencies. The evenings all-star line-up included: Oscar Peterson (piano); Shirley Horn, The Manhattan Transfer (vocals); Clark Terry (vocals, trumpet); Stanley Turrentine (tenor saxophone); Roy Hargrove (flugelhorn); Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Benny Green (piano); Herb Ellis (guitar); Ray Brown, Neils-Henning Orsted Pedersen (bass); Lewis Nash (drums).
Lead singer, and primary lyricist for the 10,000 maniacs, performed music from her first solo album Tigerlilly. The album that launched her solo career. Tigerlily was a critical and commercial success, spawning her first top-ten hit in the single "Carnival", and achieving top-40 success with subsequent singles "Wonder" and "Jealousy". The album would go on to sell over 5 million copies, and continues to be Merchant’s most successful album to date.
The debate between Pulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson ("Fences", "The Piano Lesson") and Robert Brustein, founder of the Yale Repertory Theater and the American Repertory Theater contended with questions of race and cultural equity in American theater. Wilson, irate at the lack of black-run theaters, railed against color-blind casting as diverting resources and talent from the development of African American theater. Brustein objected and questioned Wilson's separatism as self-limiting, accusing Wilson as being "the best mind of the 17th century." The evening was moderated by actress and playwright Anna Deveare Smith, and is considered a historic night of American theater.
The '70s were a very creative and banner decade for jazz. On March 20, 1998, trumpeter Mark Morganelli celebrated the richness of '70s jazz by organizing a special concert that was held at New York's Town Hall. Morganelli's idea was to feature improvisers who made an impact during the '70s, and those improvisers included trumpeter Randy Brecker, soprano and tenor saxman Dave Liebman, guitarist Pat Martino, pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Al Foster. That concert resulted in this excellent post-bop CD, which finds the '70s jazz pioneers offering acoustic-oriented versions of '70s classics like Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay," Stanley Turrentine's "Sugar," and Chick Corea's "500 Miles High"
Three-time Grammy Award-nominee Armatrading made her first NY appearence in three years. Ann Powers of The New York Times reviewed the concert, "Some singers can make each performance seem like a whispered disclosure, offered in love and trust. Such intimacy comes not from technical perfection but from the careful exploitation of individual quirks, the deployment of range and tone to express personality. Joan Armatrading, the veteran English singer-songwriter who appeared at Town Hall on Wednesday night, is a masterly creator of such artistic confidences."
After a sold-out tour of the UK, British comedian Eddie Izzard brough his hilarious one-man show Circle to Town Hall for three nights from June 22-26, 2000. The show was taped and is available on video.
One of the first concerts in New York City after 9/11, Laurie Anderson opened her show with a statement on peace and followed with a performance of "Statue of Liberty". A longtime representative of New York's downtown avant-garde, the Tribeca resident performed songs from her new album Life on A String, her first in seven years. Performing with just three musicians Anderson shared anecdotes and solo comedy, and sang songs new and old to a largely silent and breathless audience. Anderson ended the show with this chant from her song “Coolsville”: This train, This city, This train, This city, This train.
Joan Baez made her Town Hall debut. The legendary folk-singer appeared to promote her upcoming album Farewell Angelina
Designed to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, a Brave New World was a theater marathon featuring fifty new plays and songs created by America's premiere playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and presented by some of our nation's most talented performers and directors, in a coordinated stroke of creativity and fellowship. Participants included Stockard Channing, Billy Crudup, Christopher Durang, John Guare, Beth Henley, Tina Howe, David Henry Hwang, Anne Jackson, Arthur Kopit, Frank Langella, Camryn Manheim, Alan Menken, Gregory Mosher, Bebe Neuwirth, Mary Louise Parker, Estelle Parsons, David Rabe, John Rando, Ann Reinking, Lloyd Richards, Chita Rivera, John Patrick Shanley, Anna Deveare Smith, Stephen Sondheim, Marisa Tomei, Alfred Uhry, Eli Wallach, Sam Waterston, Sigourney Weaver, Vanessa Williams, Lanford Wilson, and Jerry Zaks.
Elvis Costello appeared at Town Hall for three nights to promote his new album, ''North'' (Deutsche Grammophon), accompanied only by Steve Nieve on piano, Mr. Costello retrofitted his old songs with his latest approach while he unveiled new ones.
Ms. Faithfull appeared to promote her new album, "Before the Poison" (Anti-/Epitaph), which featured collaborations with the cult figures P. J. Harvey and Nick Cave.
Stephen Holden from The New York Times wrote in his review of her performance, "To hear Marianne Faithfull spit out John Lennon's Working Class Hero in her ravaged, all-knowing sneer is to discover how a great song can accrue sharper meanings over time. ... Ms. Faithfull, who recorded Working Class Hero on her classic 1979 album "Broken English," has long since settled comfortably into her persona of the debauched fallen aristocrat, a faux Victorian princess exiled from polite society, flaunting her scarlet letter as she ravenously prowls the land, an arrogant pariah. It is only pop mythology, of course, but Ms. Faithfull still plays the role for all it's worth, infusing it with considerable humor."
Gilberto Gil, one of the stars of the tropicalia movement, which revolutionized Brazilian pop, performed at Town Hall on a double bill with American Pop star and visionary David Byrne.
In the 1960's, Gilberto's iconoclasm and cosmopolitan ambition marked him as a troublemaker; Mr. Gil was imprisoned and exiled by Brazil's military government. He outlasted his opponents, and was appointed Brazil's minister of culture in 2002.
During a 7-night stint at The Town Hall in New York City from May 25 to June 1, Bright Eyes welcomed the following guests on stage for special performances: Lou Reed (May 25); Ben Kweller (May 26); Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice (May 28); Norah Jones, Little Willie and Derrick E (May 29); Nick Zinner, Maria Taylor and Ben Gibbard (May 30); Steve Earle (May 31); and Ron Sexsmith and Britt Daniel (June 1).
The 24th season of the Oprah Winfrey Show premiered with a two night interview with a then-reclusive Whitney Houston. In her first major interview since her infamous Diane Sawyer appearance, Whitney Houston opened up about her struggles with fame, addiction and the end of her marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown. Houston chose Town Hall for the interview as a tribute to her first performances here with her mother, the legendary gospel vocalist Cissy Houston. Houston's recently released I Look to You dominated the charts and along with her Oprah interview, signaled a new era in the pop star's career. The most awarded act in pop music history, Whitney Houston died in 2013 at 48 years old.