Harlem’s Finest: The Apollo Theatre

THROUGH A GAUZY silver curtain, multi-colored lights outline a band playing a mellow blues with a dancing beat. As the audience begins to cheer, the curtain slowly rises. The music rises too, the steady wah-wah of the saxophones topped by the sharp high notes or the trumpets and the rat-a-tat-tat rhythm of the drums. A handsome man steps quickly to the front of the stage, taking a microphone that grew like magic from the floor.