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CHICAGO AND THE JAZZ AGE 43
share of the money. His immediate reaction was to send over to City Hall for a nominal roll of the real members of the police force; this was obligingly furnished to him, and was used to check each line-up and make sure that only the entirely genuine cops were bribed.
The atmosphere in which Chicago jazz flourished was, at times, more unbelievable than a cheap thriller—as one incident will show. At about this time Capone, whose known murders were running towards the dozen mark, held a banquet on the umpteenth floor of some Chicago skyscraper. At this banquet it was solemnly proposed that Capone should stand for Mayor. One of the yes-men took this proposal as being funny-ha-ha in intention, and rashly laughed. Here was another piece of untidiness that was too much for Capone's sensitive nature: he smashed a bottle, stuck it into the offender's face, ground it round, and had the body there and then pitched out of the window.
This, then, was the background to Chicago jazz: hundreds of cafes, dives, and speakeasies, and the 'Black Belt' which was a tougher and noisier version of Storeyville. In New Orleans, Louis Armstrong had played in night spots till 4 a.m., snatched a couple of hours of sleep, then started at 6 a.m. on his coal cart, delivering coal. In Chicago, 'King' Oliver was playing at the Dreamland Cafe till 1 a.m., then moving on for the rest of the night to the Pekin Cafe, favourite haunt of the gangsters, where the musicians |
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