The Club DeLisa, also written Delisa or De Lisa, was an African-American nightclub and music venue in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Located at 5521 South State Street (State Street and Garfield Avenue, on the South Side), it was possibly the most prestigious venue in the city.Deffaa, Chip ''Blue rhythms: six lives in rhythm and blues'' University of Illinois Press, 1996
at Google Books Together with the Regal Theater and the Rhumboogie Café, the 800–seat Club DeLisa played a key role in the city's association with jazz, blues, rhythm and blues and soul music. It closed in February 1958, but was re-opened as The Club in 1966.Liner notes
by Michael Cuscuna for ''Money in the Pocket'' at Cannonball Adderley official web site

History

The Club DeLisa was owned by the four DeLisa brothers, Louis, John, Jimmy and Mike. It opened in 1934 following the repeal of prohibition. In 1941, the original building burned down but was soon replaced with the New Club DeLisa, which was a larger space. Nightly "revue-style entertainment" at the club was presented in a

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

format. The show featured singers, comedians, dancers, and the DeLisa chorines, accompanied by a house band that ranged in size from 7 to 12 pieces, depending on the club's revenues. Another less heralded source of revenue was gambling, in the club's basement. During its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, the club would remain open 24 hours a day, offering round-the-clock entertainment with musicians, dancers and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

acts. Among the musicians and performers associated with the venue over the years were Red Saunders, whose band was in residence from 1937 until 1945 and later returned in 1947. The band stayed until the club closed in 1958,The Red Saunders Research Foundation

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical ...

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

, Johnny Pate, Joe Williams,

LaVaughn Robinson LaVaughn Robinson (born LaVaughn Evett) (February 9, 1927 – January 22, 2008) was an American tap dancer, choreographer, and teacher. A virtuoso tap dancer, Robinson perfected a high speed, low to the ground, a cappella style of dance tha ...

George Kirby George Kirby (June 8, 1923 – September 30, 1995) was an American comedian, singer, and actor. Career Born in Chicago, Kirby broke into show business in the 1940s at the Club DeLisa, a South Side establishment that employed a variety-sho ...

, Sonny Cohn, Earl Washington, Leon Washington,

Albert Ammons Albert Clifton Ammons (March 1, 1907 – December 2, 1949) was an American pianist and player of boogie-woogie, a blues style popular from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s. Life and career Ammons was born in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were ...

LaVern Baker Delores LaVern Baker (born Delores Evans; November 11, 1929 – March 10, 1997) was an American rhythm and blues singer who had several hit records on the pop charts in the 1950s and early 1960s. Her most successful records were " Tweedle Dee" ...

, and Reverend Gatemouth Moore (1946–1947 and 1948–1949).Campbell, Robert L. and Robert Pruter, George R. White, Tom Kelly, George Paulus “The Aristocrat Label”
Retrieved 5 July 2013. The Club DeLisa closed its doors on February 16, 1958, after the deaths of two of the DeLisa brothers. The closing of the club was commemorated in the February 6, 1958 issue of Chicago-based '' Jet'' magazine, stating the club would close on February 16 of that year.JET - Chicago's Club DeLisa Set To Close In February - February 6, 1958
/ref> The magazine has Saunders quoted saying "I haven't had a vacation since 1952. I guess I'll take one now."

House bands

* Red Saunders - 1937–1945; 1947–1958 * Jesse Miller - June 1945–February 1946Campbell, Robert L. and Christopher Trent, and Robert Pruter "From Sonny Blount to Sun Ra: The Chicago Years"
Retrieved 5 July 2013. *

- February 1946

The Club

When DJs E. Rodney Jones and

Pervis Spann Pervis Spann (August 16, 1932 – March 14, 2022) was an American broadcaster, music promoter, and radio personality. He was a disc jockey on WVON and was influential in the development of blues music in Chicago, Illinois. Early life Spann wa ...

re-opened the venue under the new name. The first performance at The Club was B.B. King on February 2, 1966 https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=9985183254853073

References

{{reflist, 2 Jazz clubs in Chicago Music venues completed in 1933 Historically African-American theaters and music venues