THE SOUL OF THE NYC'S BITTER END

Several classic soul albums were recorded at this Bleecker Street institution

Unlike most of the iconic New York nightclubs that have disappeared due to changing taste, rising rent or bad management, the Bitter End has survived and continued on as a showcase for young and emerging performers. This small clubs legacy as a showcase for music and comedy is huge going back as far as the young Bob Dyland and as recent as a then unknown Lady Gaga. I saw Tracy Chapman there the year “Fast Car” exploded at radio. Many live albums have been cut there, both by musicians and comedians. In my Follow the Sound video I shout out Curtis Mayfield’s live album, but that wasn’t the only remarkable soul recording cut before the club’s iconic brick wall. Both Donny Hathaway and the Isley Brothers made great recordings there in the early ‘70s, a time when many black stars who’d toiled in the chitlin’ circuit were expanding their audiences, and their music, by playing for the Greenwich Village crowd.

Below my short video are bits of Mayfield, Hathaway and the Isley’s at the Bitter End. I’m hoping these samples lead you to this extraordinary live documents. They’ll all make your life better.