John Coltrane’s eighth studio album, Africa/Brass, was released in 1961. The tracks include “Song of the Underground Railroad.”
To celebrate Coltrane’s birthday (September 23, 1926), All That Philly Jazz Director Faye Anderson will lead the Philadelphia Jazz Heritage Walking Tour: Green Book Edition. A travel guide, Green Book listings were effectively an Underground Railroad 2.0, a network of safe spaces where African Americans could avoid the indignities and humiliations of racial segregation.
Green Book Philadelphia walking tour stops include:
- National historic landmark where Coltrane first heard Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie;
- Supper club that was a hangout for the producers and musicians who created “The Sound of Philadelphia”;
- Hotel that welcomed jazz luminaries to its stage from the 1940s to the 1980s, and where Coltrane recorded a live album;
- Pep's Musical Bar where Coltrane and other jazz and blues greats performed;
- Jazz club that paid homage to postal workers and U.S. Postal Service;
- Dive bar that was the setting for the Broadway play “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill”; and
- Fraternal lodge where Bessie Smith’s funeral was held and an after-hours club was located on the top floor.
All That Philly Jazz Walking Tour: Green Book Edition will be held on September 21 and 22. Join us as we talk and walk in the footsteps of a jazz giant.
