Opened in 1938 inside the Hotel Cecil on West 118th Street, Minton's Playhouse became the after-hours proving ground where musicians including Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker developed the harmonically complex improvisational style that became known as bebop in the early 1940s. Managed by former bandleader Teddy Hill, the club's Monday night jam sessions drew top musicians eager to test new ideas away from the more restrictive dance-band circuit, making it one of the most consequential incubators in the history of American jazz.