“The Soul of Bronzeville”

FOR THE RECORD DuSable packs in all that jazz.

Known as the Black Metropolis in the early 20th century, Bronzeville was a hotbed for blues and jazz from the 1920s well into the 1970s. In a small, second-floor space, “The Soul of Bronzeville: The Regal, Club DeLisa and the Blues” offers an encyclopedia’s worth of information. Walls covered in top-to-bottom text breeze through subjects like Bronzeville’s 1940s growth; Chicago’s historic soul-label epicenter, Record Row; and Club DeLisa’s reputation as Chicago’s Harlem.

Interesting as that might be, the show’s true gems are its artifacts from the historic Regal Theatre—home to performances by Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and others—including terra-cotta slabs from the Regal’s facade, a row of red seats saved from its 1975 demolition and the original 1928 theater blueprint. Nat “King” Cole got his start playing jazz piano at Regal’s amateur night, and jazz fans will salivate when they spy the silver microphone that surely carried his voice to the thousands in attendance.

Guitars from legendary Chicago bluesmen Howlin’ Wolf and Jimmy Rogers are on display—but Rogers’s cuff links and pair of dice give better insight into the life of the axman, making him more than a face on a vinyl LP cover.

A booth housing bright orange plastic chairs from the original Checkerboard Lounge sits under a backdrop made to look like the interior of the club’s Bronzeville venue that shut its doors in 2003. A replica of a 1950s-era Bronzeville living room includes a rotary phone, glass mermaid coffee table and an old Hi-Fi television set—a glimpse of historic Bronzeville beyond the soulful sounds that still croon from our iPods.

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