New Amsterdam Music Association

Location & Contact:

107 West 130th Street
Manhattan, NY 10027
212-234-2973
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Description:

Founded in 1904, NAMA (New Amsterdam Musical Association),is the oldest African-American musical organization in the United States. It was founded at the time that the American Federation of Musicians Local 310 did not admit minority musicians.

Music put Harlem on the map. Artists such as Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Lena Horne, Larry (Lucky) Luci, Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake & Louis Armstrong filled the air of Harlem with jazz, ragtime and blues throughout the carefree nights of the 1920's. White patrons - everyone from gangsters to socialites - flocked to Harlem, crowding famous venues like Connie's Inn, The Cotton Club and the block long Savoy Ballroom, along with speakeasies, sporting houses and all manner of after-hours joints.