Swinging on the South Side: The Heartbeat of Chicago Jazz
From vaudeville houses and ballrooms to ‘black and tans,' take a club-hopping tour through the early days of Chicago jazz.

The Original Creole Orchestra. L to R: Eddie Vincent, Ollie “Dink” Johnson, Freddy Keppard, Jimmie Palao, George Baquet, Bill Johnson, and W.M. Williams, cir. 1918. Photo courtesy Red Hot Jazz Archive.

Entertainment Ad for the Lincoln Gardens, cir. 1922. Image courtesy of The Chicago Defender.

King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band c. 1922. L to R: Baby Dodds, Honoré Dutrey, King Oliver, Bill Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Lil Hardin Armstrong. Photo courtesy Red Hot Jazz Archive.

Entertainment Ad for the Dreamland, cir. 1924. Image courtesy of The Chicago Defender.

Lil Hardin and her band at The Dreamland, cir. 1919. Photo courtesy John Steiner Papers, Chicago Jazz Archive, Special Collections Research Center, University Chicago Library.

Entertainment Ad for the famous Sunset Café. Image courtesy the Earl Hines and Stanley Dance Collection.

Armstrong Stompers, cir. 1927. Photo: Chris Albertson. Photo courtesy The World of Earl Hines by Stanley Dance.

The Sunset Café building, cir. 1998. Photo courtesy of The Commission on Chicago Landmarks.

Earl Hines in front of The Grand Terrace Marquee. Photo courtesy the Earl Hines and Stanley Dance Collection.

Entertainment Ad for the Apex Club, cir. 1917. Robert Beck Papers,Chicago Jazz Archive, Special Collections Research Center, University Chicago Library.

The Regal Theatre, cir. 1928. Photo courtesy Lake County, IL Discovery Museum, Curt Teich Postcard Archives.

The Plantation Café. Photo courtesy of the Chicago History Museum.