(The) Apex
Title
(The) Apex
Subject
Short-lived New Orleans jazz after hours catering to white patrons.
330 E. 35th St.
Description
Originally known as Club Alvadere (1920-22) and The Nest Club (1922-26), The Apex was an afterhours spot on the second floor across from the Chicago Defender owned by Joe Louis' manager Julian Black. It catered to wealthier whites and was a spot where "white jazzmen" often came to listen in on the influential sounds of New Orleans' musician and bandleader Jimmy Noone. The popular clarinetist and band leader had one of the last of the New Orleans style bands critical to Chicago's cabaret scene in the 1920s. Noone's band featured an unusual front line arrangement that preserved the New Orleans' jazz sound without using brass instruments with Noone on clarinet, Joe Poston on alto saxophone and clarinet, Earl Hines on piano, Ollie Powers on drums, and Bud Scott on guitar. Noone's smooth clarinet playing would be a major influence on Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, andd a young Nat King Cole. His sound also influenced the Swing era that followed. The Apex Club was raided and closed down during the Prohibition Era in 1930.
Creator
Meida McNeal
Source
Hennessey, Thomas J. From Jazz to Swing: African-American Jazz Musicians and their Music, 1890-1935, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994, 74.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Noone#cite_note-Decca_Apex_Blues-7;
Howland Kenny, William. Chicago Jazz: A Cultural History: 1904-1930, Oxford: 1993, 23, 140-141.
Date
1926/1930
Contributor
Micah Salkind
Relation
Club Alvadere
The Nest Club
Jimmy Noone
Type
Jazz
Identifier
Apex
Coverage
Social Culture
Location
Ballrooms and Cabarets
Files
Citation
Meida McNeal, “(The) Apex,” Chicago Black Social Culture Map, accessed June 13, 2026, https://cbscmap.omeka.net/items/show/1.