Uptown @ Minton's Playhouse

If you ain't been to Minton's Playhouse, on a Friday night, down on the first floor of the old Cecil Hotel at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem, well, you ain't been nowhere near no jazz at'all. This, apparently, is the secret jump off for old school playas and a whole lotta Japanese tourists who clearly know where to get their groove on. Lovin' the splendid display of fly hats, tilted to the side with pride, elder brothers dressed to impressed, and decked out sistas with gorgeous, gleamin' skin, enjoyin' all the grooves and the moves. Live music, teeny tiny tables, a high ass bar with barely no elbow room, but a whole lotta of jazz n' joy in the air. Flow by and say hey in the spot where Monk, Parker, Christian, and Gillespie introduced bebop.