at Minton's The house band at Minton's Playhouse developed ways of weeding out less skilled musicians who wanted to sit in. According to bassist Milt Hinton, Gillespie prompted the band to play standards, such as Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm", in difficult keys in order to discourage beginners from sitting in. Bassist Charles Mingus remembered being required to audition to get up on stage:"To play at Minton's you couldn't just walk in and grab a bass. They made you go in a back room or a kitchen and call a few tunes. They did it to me too. They said, "Can you play 'Perdido'? Can you play 'Body and Soul'?" Practices such as these challenged up-and-coming jazz musicians to get their acts together in order to participate in the jam sessions, which kept the music at a high level. End of an era Minton's changed its open jam policy in favor of big-name acts in the 1950s. By the late 1960s, bands were no longer at the cutting edge. Harlem writer, Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) wrote in Black Music (1967): "The groups that come into Minton's are stand-up replicas of what was a highly experimental twenty-five years ago." Although the club was open for a little more than three decades, Minton's Playhouse will always be associated with the 1940s and the jam sessions that gave birth to bebop. The new Minton's In 2013, Richard Parsons revived Minton's as an upscale Jazz club and restaurant. The restaurant's cuisine was entrusted to restaurateur Alexander Smalls. The new club was designed by architect Sarah Garcia of Estudio Sarah Garcia and a new brand identity designed by New York designer John Simoudis. See also List of jazz clubs Midnight at Minton's – 1941 Jerry Newman recording of a session featuring Don Byas and Thelonious Monk References Citations Sources External links Jazz clubs in New York City Jazz clubs in Harlem Music venues in Manhattan Drinking establishments on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan 1938 establishments in New York City Former music venues in New York City Arts organizations established in 1938 Music venues completed in 1938 Harlem Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)