The Empty Foxhole

The Empty Foxhole was located in St. Mary’s Church along with radio station WXPN-FM on the campus of The University of Pennsylvania. “The Empty Foxhole” or “The Foxhole” (named after the Ornette Coleman album of the same name) was conceived by Geno Barnhart as a coffee house venue in the mid to late 60’s in Philly. The Foxhole, like Bill Graham’s “Fillmore East and West”, became the Mecca for jazz during the 70’s. There you could see Betty Carter, Archie Shepp, Yusef Lateef, Steve Lacy, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Sun Ra, Don Cherry and numerous jazz artists from all walks of the genre. Some double bill performances included the Joe Henderson Quintet / the Clifford Jordan Quintet and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers / Philly Joe Jones Quintet. During this time “The “Foxhole” concerts were recorded and broadcasted over radio station WXPN-FM. By 1980, “The Foxhole” had new management which included founder Geno Barnhart, Rhoda Blount, Reginald Dunn, Ransom Rembert, and Michael Anderson (2). In October of 1982, “The Foxhole” presented and recorded its last two concerts which included “Sunny Murray and the Drums Interactuel” with Sunny Murray, Steve McCall, Ed Blackwell and Dennis Charles on drums, Byard Lancaster on alto sax, Khan Jamal on vibes and Wilbur Morris on bass. The final concert performance for “The Foxhole” organization was the Sun Ra Arkestra.