Originally opened in 1949, the Celebrity Club drew the biggest names in jazz, from Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald to Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole. It was located in Randall Square, a long since demolished African-American neighborhood along the Moshassuck River. (Randall is now that one-way street that crosses North Main and then turns into Doyle.) Notably, it was the first racially integrated jazz club in all of New England. Though Providence Police routinely raided it to enforce racial segregation, the club lasted for over a decade. Many years in the making, Norm Grant and Tom Shaker’s Do It Man! is a brand-new documentary tribute to the Celebrity Club and the many musicians who played there.
(image via rirocks.net)
