On Thursday, September 15, 1960, at 10:00 p.m. in New York, CBS aired Jazz From Sixty-One on national TV. The half-hour show was broadcast from the network's Studio 61, housed at the Monroe Theatre at 1456 First Avenue, at East 76th Street. The Monroe was one of the largest theaters built on Manhattan’s Upper East Side by an indie theater operator in the early 1920s. First opened in January 1926, CBS took it over for its Studio 61 in 1951, renovated the interior space for a sound stage, and began broadcasting live TV from there in 1952. [Photo above of CBS producer Robert Herridge]
Back then, as the at-home demand for television rapidly caught on, CBS had no time or the real estate to build a sprawling Hollywood-like studio lot. Instead, the network purchased or leased theaters all over the city as needed, revamping each one for television and immediately launched operations for programmming. The Monroe theater was later demolished and a modern daycare center stands in its place. For more on how CBS expanded its studio empire in a race against time, check out a fascinating free online reference, The History of CBS New York Television Studios: 1937-1965, by Bobby Ellerbee here.
In 1960, Jazz From Sixty-One was produced by Robert Herridge and directed by Karl Genus. The consultant was Nat Hentoff, who is seen in the show nodding to the music with a pipe in his mouth and his wife next to him. The show was part of The Robert Herridge Theater, a series of jazz and drama broadcasts.
The musicians featured that night were tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, with pianist Hank Jones, bassist George Duvivier and drummer Jo Jones; the Ahmad Jamal Trio, with pianist Ahmad Jamal, bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier. Also included are trumpeter Buck Clayton and trombonist Vic Dickenson. [Photo above courtesy of the Ben Webster Foundation]
To read my 2015 Wall Street Journal essay on Robert Herridge, go here. To read my 2013 essay on Ahmad Jamal, go here.
Here's the complete Jazz From Sixty-One...
