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LJAC BOARD

OF DIRECTORS & STAFF

Elmer Crumbley, Board Chair
Ernest White, Vice Chair
Dave Bird, Treasurer
William Eustace, Secretary
Frank Brown
James Swoopes
Shirley Jordan
Dr. Kam Ching Leung

Neville Murray,
Executive Director/ Curator

Michelle Troxclair,
Administrative Director

For more information please call (402) 502-5291

April is Jazz Appreciation Month

FOR TICKET INFORMATION CONTACT 502-5291

WELCOME MESSAGE

Welcome to the web site of the Loves Jazz & Arts Center, (LJAC). The center is located at 2510 North 24th Street in Omaha Nebraska. We are a non-profit 501 c3 dedicated to the Arts through exhibition, collection, documentation, preservation, study and the dissemination of the history and culture of African Americans in the arts.

As an educational institution, the Loves Jazz & Arts Center features state of the art digital media equipment enabling us to teach the latest media and engage in innovative new initiatives. Through exhibits, workshops, performances, educational programs, and special activities, the Loves Jazz & Arts Center explores the African American experience and celebrates accomplishments of the past and present to further advance the education of the future.

During the 1930s and 40s, Omaha was a booming regional center of jazz. In an era in which every small town had its own dance hall, countless bands toured incessantly to bring live music to every corner of the nation. In the vast territory of the upper plains — from Wyoming to Minnesota — those bands were likely to come from Omaha.

“We were centrally located,” Love said. “This was the hub, the booking center for the biggest dance territory in the world ... we played all the dance pavilions and ballrooms in the Midwest. Minnesota had thousands. Nebraska had hundreds ... all the bands were working six or seven nights a week. So therefore, to service these bands, we brought musicians from all over the country to Omaha because the employment was here.

“There were some other cities — like Kansas City, or Oklahoma City — where they had some bands, but Omaha was the hub because we were centrally located. So these hundreds of black musicians came here. From these were some great players. The proof of it is, where did they go, those who were good? Ellington, Basie, every band of any note had several ex-Omahans. They might not have been born in Omaha, but they lived here for several years while they played.”

Preston Love

Loves Jazz & Art Center (LJAC) 402-502-5291 Omaha NE 68110-2219
http://www.lovesjazzartcenter.org

Copyright © 2007 Love Jazz & Arts Center. All rights reserved.

Currently Showing

In celebration of Black History Month 2008 LJAC is proud

To present an exhibiiton of historic photographs honoring the

contributions of the Tuskegee Airmen. Their story is truely

remarkable, how they acomlished excellence at a time when

their country needed them most.

This exhibition features photographs from the Loves Jazz & Arts Center's permanent collection. These wonderful photographs chronical some of the major musical giants who have called Omaha home or were regular performers at omaha's jazz venues.

“All That Omaha Jazz”

From the 1920s through the early 1960s the Near North Side neighborhood boasted a vibrant entertainment district featuring African American music. The main artery of North 24th Street was the heart of the city's African-American cultural and business community with a thriving jazz and rhythm and blues scene that attracted top-flight swing, blues and jazz bands from across the country.

The most important venue was the storied Dreamland Ballroom, which was opened in the Jewell Building in 1923 at 24th and Grant Streets in the Near North Side neighborhood. Dreamland hosted some of the greatest jazz, blues, and swing performers, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, and the original Nat King Cole Trio. Whitney Young spoke there as well.[6] Other venues included Jim Bell's Harlem, opened in 1935 on Lake Street, west of 24th; McGill's Blue Room, located at 24th and Lake, and Allen's Showcase Lounge, which was located at 24th and Lake. Due to racial segregation, musicians such as Cab Calloway stayed at Myrtle Washington's at 22nd and Willis while others stayed at Charlie Trimble's at 22nd and Seward. The intersection of 24th and Lake was the setting of the Big Joe Williams song "Omaha Blues".

Notable North Omaha musicians

“ North Omaha used to be a hub for black jazz musicians, 'the triple-A league' where national bands would go to find a player to fill out their ensemble. ”

—Preston Love

Early North Omaha bands included Dan Desdunes Band, Simon Harrold's Melody Boys, the Sam Turner Orchestra, the Ted Adams Orchestra, and the Omaha Night Owls, as well as Red Perkins and His Original Dixie Ramblers. Lloyd Hunter's Serenaders who became the first Omaha band to record in 1931. A Lloyd Hunter concert poster can be seen on display at the Community Center in nearby Mineola, Iowa.[8] Nat Towles was a renowned territory band leader based in Omaha. The National Orchestra Service was an important company based in Omaha that managed white, black and integrated territorial bands.

North Omaha's musical culture also birthed several nationally and internationally reputable African American musicians. International Jazz legend Preston Love, and influential drummer Buddy Miles were all friends while they grew up and played together. They collaborated throughout their lives, and while they were playing with the greatest names in Rock and Roll, Jazz, R&B and Fund. Funk bandleader Lester Abrams is also from North Omaha. Omaha-born Wynonie Harris, one of the founders of rock and roll, got his start at the North Omaha clubs and for a time lived in the now-demolished Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects at 2213 Charles Street.

One of Omaha's most notable musicians of the 1940s was Anna Mae Winburn. As the leader of North Omaha's Cotton Club Boys, which included the amazing guitarist Charlie Christian, Winburn traveled the local region as a typical territorial band. However, upon the advice of Jimmie Jewell, owner of the Jewel Building, Winburn left Omaha and hit the "big time" with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

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