Exploring the Philly Jazz Legacy

Philly has long been a jazz hub, with cool cats like John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Jimmy Smith, and Benny Golson calling the city home. Such figures were mainstays in the clubs and concert halls that made up an integral part of the mid-20th century urban landscape. This tour will highlight key locations and stories from Philly’s heyday as a jazz mecca in the 1950s and 1960s up until the present. We’ll begin near the site of the famed Earle Theatre at 11th and Market Streets. From there, we’ll head down South Broad Street, a major club thoroughfare. The tour will end at Broad and Fitzwater Streets. Put some pep in your step and come join the fun!

Tour leader Jack McCarthy is a longtime Philadelphia archivist and historian who specializes in Philadelphia music history. Jack has a master’s degree in music history and regularly lectures, writes, and gives walking tours on the subject. He has directed several Philadelphia music history projects, including major projects for the Philadelphia Orchestra, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Mann Music Center, and directed the 2018-2019 project Documenting & Exploring the Philly Jazz Legacy, funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Jack writes on Philadelphia music history for the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia and the online magazine Hidden City Philadelphia.

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Questions, concerns, conundrums? Contact Hidden City project coordinator Alyssa Shea at [email protected].

Host or Publisher Hidden City Philadelphia