Royal Roost, Jazz club in Theater District, Manhattan, United States
The Royal Roost was a jazz club set inside a chicken restaurant on Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, active during the 1940s and 1950s. The space combined dining tables with a stage, so guests could eat while listening to live performances.
Owner Ralph Watkins turned his chicken restaurant into a jazz venue after radio host Symphony Sid persuaded him to do so. The club quickly became a key gathering point for the bebop movement as it was taking shape.
Miles Davis introduced his nonet at the Royal Roost in September 1948, performing compositions that later formed the foundation of the album Birth of the Cool.
The club was on Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, making it easy to reach from most parts of the city. The space was tight, as the kitchen and the performance area shared the same room.
The club earned the nickname Metropolitan Bopera House, a play on the name of the nearby Metropolitan Opera combined with the word bebop. That single phrase captured both where the club stood and what kind of music played inside it.
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