Don Schlitten

John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Ahmed Abdul-Malik at Five Spot, 1957 COOPER SQ.

You are standing at the former site of the Five Spot Cafe, which in the 1950s and ’60s was owned and operated by brothers Joe and Iggy Termini, who brought in the era’s most progressive jazz artists, including Thelonious Monk, Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Randy Weston and John Coltrane. Some of Billie Holiday’s last performances took place here. Because the authorities had

seized her cabaret card, the engagements could not be publicized, but the club filled up & Jazzpix.com / Courtesy DaleParent 1960 Photo by RobertParent by word of mouth alone. In 1959, saxophonist Ornette Coleman’s Five Spot debut introduced free improvisation to mainstream jazz discourse. Although composer Leonard Bernstein visited one night and loudly declared it “the greatest thing that has ever happened in jazz,” Coleman’s music remains controversial to the present day.

THE New York destination for bohemians and visiting intelligentsia, Five Spot regulars Ornette Coleman (1930-2015) included painter Robert Rauschenberg, poets Ted Joans and Amiri Baraka, and novelists Billie Holiday (1915–1959) Jack Kerouac and James Baldwin. During the club’s existence, whether as listeners or as performers, the most adventurous artists of the time came through the Five Spot’s doors. In 1963, the club moved to Two St. Mark’s Place and Cooper Square, Writer Kenneth Koch recalled: where it lasted until the early 1970s. “It was very close to the end of her life, with her voice almost gone, just like a whisper, just like the taste of very old wine, but full of spirit ... — David Neil Lee, author, The Battle of the Five Spot Everybody wanted her to sing. Everybody was crazy about her.” Quote from City Poet: Life and Times of Frank O’Hara by Brad Gooch

THE HIPPEST William Gottlieb / Library of Congress PLACE ON EARTH FIVE SPOT JAZZ CLUB

WINDOWS ON THE BOWERY The Bowery is NYC’s oldest thoroughfare. Originally a Native American footpath and Dutch farm road (bouwerij means farm), it is a cradle of American culture, with seminal links to tap dance, vaudeville, Yiddish theater, Lincoln, Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, tattoo art, Abstract Expressionism, Beat literature, jazz and punk rock. Though listed on Vanishing New York Courtesy Vanishing Jeremiah’s RobertParent / Courtesy DaleParent & Jazzpix.com / Courtesy DaleParent RobertParent the National Register of Historic Places, out-of-scale developments are displacing its residents, small businesses, and historic character. More info/link to Bowery’s National Register listing: boweryalliance.org

Funding for the BOWERY SIGNAGE PROJECT: La Vida Feliz Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Patricia Field, Andre Balazs, Adam Woodward, John Derian, Michael A. Geyer Architect, and contributions from Bowery friends and neighbors. Poster Design: Professional Practice Class, The Cooper Union

Crowd outside The Five Spot