Minton's Playhouse After-Hours Sessions

In the early 1940s, the late-night jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem became the crucible of bebop, with Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke anchoring the house band and players like Charlie Christian and Dizzy Gillespie testing new harmonic ideas. The competitive, after-hours atmosphere rewarded speed and invention and pushed the music away from danceable swing. These sessions are remembered as the place where the style first cohered.