Savoy Ballroom

The Savoy Ballroom located in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, was a public place for music and dance shows from 1926 to 1958. It was located between 140th and 141st Streets on Lenox Avenue.

The Savoy was a popular dance club in the 1920s and 1930s and many famous dances such as the Lindy Hop were created here. It was known as the "Home of Happy Feet" or simply "the Turf".

Unlike the 'whites only' policy of the Cotton Club, the Savoy Ballroom was integrated and whites and blacks could dance together.

Chick Webb was the leader of the house band during the mid-1930s. A teenage Ella Fitzgerald, fresh from her talent show win at the Apollo Theater, became its vocalist.

The Savoy regularly held "Battle of the Bands" concerts between the house band, the Chick Webb Orchestra, and the most famous bands in the country. The Benny Goodman Orchestra and the Count Basie Band were among the bands that played, and lost, to Chick Webb.

The ballroom was on the second floor and was a block long. It had two bandstands, one on each end of the ballroom. Music was continuous as one band rested while the other band played. During a "Battle", the bands would trade numbers, and the crowd would vote with their feet.

Stompin' at the Savoy, a 1934 Big Band classic song and jazz standard was named after the ballroom. It was written by Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Edgar Sampson, and Andy Razaf - see here)