One of the greatest revolutions in jazz was spawned in a neighborhood club, Minton’s Playhouse, run by one-time bandleader Teddy Hill in the Cecil Hotel. Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Charlie Christian, and Max Roach were among the regulars who came here to experiment with a brand-new style of jazz that came to be called bebop.
Closed from 1974, the club reopened in 2006 as Uptown Lounge at Minton's Playhouse (208 W. 118th St., between St. Nicholas Ave. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., 212/864-8346, www.mintonsuptown.com [1]). Still hanging in the back is the striking original mural depicting four musicians, two of whom have been identified as Tony Scott and Charlie Christian.
The silver-domed mosque topped with a star and a crescent is the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque (102 W. 116th St., at Lenox Ave., 212/662-2200), named after civil-rights leader Malcolm X, who taught here in the 1960s just before his break with the Black Muslims. After his death, the mosque was firebombed.
Surrounding the mosque is busy Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market [2], a hodgepodge of small Muslim-run businesses.
Links:
[1] http://www.mintonsuptown.com
[2] http://www.moon.com/destinations/new-york-city-long-island/manhattan/shopping/flea-and-vendor-markets