The Cotton Club - WEJF'25: Club Lights, Long Nights

10/21 - 7 PM | The Cotton Club (1984) (2 HR)

Francis Ford Coppola drops us inside the legendary 1920s Harlem nightclub where dazzling stage revues, hot dance bands, and tap fireworks ran headlong into Prohibition power plays and segregation. A stylized take, yes—but the music, choreography, and Ellington-era textures reveal how early showbiz helped launch jazz into the American mainstream while leaving big questions of access and credit unresolved.

Club Lights, Long Nights

Three films, three eras, and one common theme. Each film is built around musicians balancing art and circumstance: the demand to entertain, the pull of personal voice, and the realities of race, class, and commerce that have always shaped who’s heard. Listen for the shift in the music as the decades turn, yet the conversation between players and audience never breaks. Together, these stories sketch a living timeline of jazz finding new homes without losing its roots.

Join us at Within Earshot for a cinematic set that vibes perfectly with the live music happening on the BIMA stage all month long!

Host or Publisher Bainbridge Island Museum of Art