On October 1, 1964, the trumpeter and composer Bill Dixon opened the “October Revolution in Jazz” at the Cellar Café, 251 West 91st Street — a basement coffee shop run by the filmmaker Peter Sabino that had opened that February and mostly served poetry, films and folk music to Columbia students. Dixon booked the four days himself, reportedly paying for it in unpaid rent and long-distance calls. The bill ran from four in the afternoon to midnight and took in Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Paul Bley, Jimmy Giuffre, Archie Shepp, Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, Mike Mantler and Burton Greene, with panel discussions afterward on topics such as “The Economics of Jazz.” By one count some 700 people came, far more than the room held. Within weeks the organizers had formed the Jazz Composers Guild, announcing that their music would “no longer remain a part of the ‘underground’ scene.” The Guild fell apart the following year.
Sources: October Revolution in Jazz — Wikipedia (Cellar Café, 251 West 91st Street, run by Peter Sabino, opened late February 1964; October 1–4, 1964; 4 p.m. to midnight with panels afterward; performers; Dixon’s phone bills and unpaid rent; attendance about 700; led to the Jazz Composers Guild) , “October Revolution in Jazz” — 1960s: Days of Rage (Cellar Café at 251 West 91st Street, October 1–4, 1964; Sabino’s café serving poetry, film, folk music and jazz to Columbia students; performers; Jazz Composers Guild’s mid-October statement) , Bill Dixon — Jazz.com encyclopedia (four-day festival at the Cellar Cafe, owned by filmmaker Peter Sabino; performances and panel discussions; led to the Jazz Composers Guild) , The Jazz Composer’s Orchestra Information Page — mattendahl.com (Guild founded fall 1964 after the October Revolution; dissolved 1965; Bley and Mantler carried on as the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra)
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