Once a musician's haven, the Bronx is pricing out its sidemen

New York

THERE was once a time when the streets of the South Bronx nurtured genres of music that went on to influence American - if not global - culture. From the jazz clubs along Prospect Avenue to the doo-wop groups that formed at Morris High School in the 1950s to the salsa bands that headlined shows at the Hunts Point Palace in the 1960s, the borough had a vibrant musical scene that provided both entertainment and much-needed jobs for hundreds of sidemen. They could play several gigs a night, making enough to get by while hoping to land a recording deal.

Those venues are long gone, obliterated by the fires that swept through the borough. Gone, too, are the chances to earn a living, which, combined with seismic shifts in the music business and rising rents in neighbourhoods now threatened by gentrification, have left older musicians in a precarious situation.