Wallys Cafe Jazz Club Blog

George Clinton @ Wally’s Cafe

LiveMusic365 — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 06:24:57 +0000

George Clinton

The original P-Funk All Star gets the all-star treatment at Wally’s jazz club

By Meredith Goldstein, Globe staff | March 9, 2006

The most noticeable thing about walking up Columbus Avenue with funk legend George Clinton at 10 p.m. on a Thursday is that people can’t help but recognize him, and there’s nothing they can do but stare.

Clinton stands out, with his unmistakable rainbow dreadlocks and his oversized, graffiti-painted coat. Passersby know it’s not just some guy who looks like George Clinton — because no one really looks like George Clinton, except for George Clinton.

The customers inside New York Pizza on Massachusetts Avenue stare out the window in disbelief as Clinton saunters slowly down the street toward Wally’s Cafe,where we’re going for the night. He would have preferred to use his day off between gigs to fish (turns out, Clinton’s favorite hobby is fishing), but since it’s freezing in Boston, he wants to see live music.

At Wally’s, it doesn’t take long before Clinton causes a commotion.

”That’s George Clinton. That is [expletive] awesome,” says bar patron Bob Greff.

Greff gawks at the granddaddy of funk, who makes his way into the bar with three friends. There’s Clinton’s quiet publicist who goes by the name Fri (”like Friday,” he says), an assistant who looks 25 but says she’s 40 (”We come from that breed from the spaceship,” she says of her youthful look), and Garry Shider, whom funk fans know as ”Diaper Man” because he performs as a member of Clinton’s P-Funk All Stars in, well, a diaper.

The bargoers, many of whom are musicians themselves, crowd around Clinton, the granddaddy of funk, who sips a Heineken. They ask him for autographs. They paw at his dreads. They want to take pictures of him with their camera phones.

Clinton, 64, doesn’t say no to anyone. He doesn’t say much at all, actually, but he smiles and entertains every request. In some ways, he is like Santa Claus — jolly, round, and granting wishes.

Clinton peeks over the bar crowd so he can better hear the live music. It’s a group called Los Cinco Elementos, the regular Thursday act at Wally’s Latin Night. The band is in the middle of an upbeat salsa song.

People part the seas for Clinton as soon as he starts to move closer to the stage. He and Shider squeeze in so close to the band that they’re next to the musicians, taking the uncomfortable spot in front of the bathrooms. Clinton doesn’t complain and refuses a chair.

Band leader/saxophonist Tim Mayer turns around and stares. His eyes tear up when he sees it’s George Clinton who has come to hear him play.

Mayer quickly grabs the microphone and makes a speech about how Clinton ”inspires us all today.” Mayer is shaky and nervous, and Clinton smiles at him warmly.

Then, Mayer does what you do when a legend just happens to be listening to your set. He wails on his instrument. The other musicians join him, and they share a look of panic and excitement. Drummer Matt Brady grimaces with concentration. Bassist Danny Weller grins, eager to impress. Gregorio Bento bangs the congas.

Clinton responds most to rhythmic keyboardist Aruán Ortiz, who wears a New York City subway T-shirt. Ortiz is animated and wild, and Clinton loves it.

Well, he doesn’t actually say he loves it, but you can tell because he’s beaming in Ortiz’s direction. He bangs his beer bottle like a drum and dances, moving his head up and down, then from side to side.

When he catches my eye, he grabs my hand and spins me around in circles. Later, he tells me that we’ve just danced the merengue.

The band asks if Clinton wants to join in for a few songs, but he just wants to watch. Clinton and Shider, two old friends, stand together listening. They occasionally yell, ”Yes!” and ”Yeah!” when they like a solo.

Mayer finally pulls out a much larger saxophone, his baritone. Clinton laughs wildly and yells out, ”Yes! Yes! OK!”

”Sometimes you just need a bigger one,” Mayer says, proudly.

And with that, Los Cinco Elementos plays a few more climactic minutes as Clinton air drums to the beat. When the set ends, the place goes wild. Clinton pays his respects (he makes a point to embrace keyboardist Ortiz), and the funk entourage heads out the door to rest up before a weekend of New England gigs.

Outside, on Massachusetts Avenue, Clinton smiles and mutters to himself, ”I needed that.”

Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com.

Wally’s Cafe, A New England Jazz Tradition.

LiveMusic365 — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 06:23:16 +0000

Boston’s South End was once a thriving pocket of lavish jazz clubs and a mecca for legendary performers. One by one, each venue closed its doors, giving way to pizza parlors, coffee shops and retailers. The golden age of jazz is nearly dead in New England.

But it lives on at Wally’s Café.

Nestled in an unassuming brownstone on Massachusetts Avenue, Wally’s Café boasts free live music seven nights a week.

On a recent weekend night, five musicians crowded on a dimly lit stage. Around sixty people packed in the narrow room, both at tables and along the bar. The young saxophone player kneeled toward a man bobbing his head and slapping an upright base. Black and white photographs and yellowed newspaper clippings were framed on an exposed-brick wall. A drummer sat to the side, his head dangling low as he lightly teased the drum cymbals.

Joseph Walcott opened Wally’s Café in 1947 as the first black man to own a nightclub in New England, according to the Bostonian Society. Walcott died at age 101 in 1998, but passed the club down to his daughter and grandsons.

Paul Poindexter, the eldest of Walcott’s grandsons, bustled his way through the crowd, serving drinks and greeting customers. Poindexter, 47, is a robust man with a goatee and a slight gap in his teeth.

“We’re not a family owned operation. We’re community owned. Without you guys,” he motioned to the crowd, “we would be nothing but four walls.”

An older black man and white woman sat back in their chairs, holding hands and sipping Merlot from tall glasses. Three middle aged Asian women laughed and talked over martinis. Several ebony-skinned men stood in the back of the bar, wearing newsboy hats and tapping their feet to the music. A horde of college-age men stood near the bar, drinking Sam Adams from the bottle.

Elynor Walcott, Joseph Walcott’s daughter, said in a phone interview that even in the 1940s, Wally’s Café drew an ethnically diverse crowd.

“My father always ran that kind of business,” she said.

Wally’s Café is also diverse with the staunch jazz lover and the casual bar hopper.

“I love the scene and experience of live jazz,” said Ross Norman, 28, a film producer from New York City. Norman, who described himself as a “social jazz listener,” said that he rarely listens recorded jazz. “But here, there is this energy and emotional depth to the music that I can’t help but get into.”

Norman said he also enjoys Wally’s Café for the laid back atmosphere. “Some bars have this manic quality to them, like they’re trying too hard to be cool. It’s exhausting.”

People come to Wally’s Café to relax. The regulars know to leave pretense outside the metal-barred door and let loose to the music.

Wally’s Café is a no-frills bar, offering both reasonably priced drinks and a full selection of top shelf liquor, but no food—except for a few bags of chips pinned to the wall behind the counter.

The main draw is the music.

Wally’s Café rotates jazz bands each night of the week, featuring different musical styles such as Cuban jazz, funk, swing, bebop and blues, and a mix of students and professional musicians.

The nightclub has historically been a platform for student musicians to establish themselves. Twenty-eight year old Berklee College of Music graduate Justin Oliver said that he plays the drums at Wally’s Café on Monday nights.

“The history of this place is incredible,” he said. “It’s a great experience for students to play here.”

The musicians played for hours without breaking. When one needed water, he would pause and take a drink before fusing back in. They moved their bodies with the music, their movements growing more expressive as the music built momentum.

The crowd cheered when the trumpet player hit a flurry of high notes.

Elynor Walcott, 64, described what she remembers of Wally’s Café as a little girl, then called Wally’s Paradise. She said there was a kitchen, a dressing room, table clothes on every table, and a maître d’ at the door.

“And there was dancing,” she said, proudly.

She said that as a young girl, her family would host the entertainers in their own home, since during that time blacks were not welcome at many hotels in the city. They would come back after the club was closed and have parties in the living room.

“Boy, they were having a good time,” she said, laughing.

Walcott said she was in her early 20s the first time she took charge of the nightclub. After mother died, her father took his first trip in 40 years to his native country, Barbados.

“He let me be in charge of his baby. I was so honored.”

While he was gone, Walcott saved the building by putting out a grease fire started by a cook, who tried to put it out with water. Walcott grabbed a box of salt and poured it over the fire before smothering it with an old blanket, a trick she learned from her mother.

From that day on, she was the person her father counted on.

Walcott said her father always dazzled guests by dressing in suit, a tie and shiny shoes. But at night, he rolled up his dress pants and mopped the club’s bathroom floors.

Walcott said her father never talked about the challenges he faced as a black business owner in the 1950s and 1960s.

“He was tough,” she said. “He didn’t care what color you were, so as long you didn’t mess with him.”

Walcott said that her family gives credit to God for keeping the doors at Wally’s Cafe open for so many years.

Freelance novelist Christopher Shortsleeves, 29, was showing off the jazz club to his girlfriend visiting from New York City last weekend.

“Jazz can be a lot of nonsense. But when it’s on, it’s really on. But don’t listen to me, I’m no music connoisseur,” he said before taking a swig of his Blue Moon.

But jazz wasn’t meant for the music connoisseur, and the management at Wally’s Café seems to celebrate that.

“Jazz is music for the people,” Poindexter said, motioning to the crowd.

“It’s America’s music.”

WALLYS CAFE

LiveMusic365 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:45:32 +0000

Wally’s Cafe was established January 1, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts. The nightclub is located at the famed intersection of Massachusetts and Columbus Avenues. The area was once home to many of Boston’s famous jazz clubs during the nineteen forties and fifties. Nightclubs with names like the High Hat, Savoy Ballroom, Chicken Lane, the Wig Wam, Big M, and Wally’s Paradise played a major role introducing jazz to the New England community.

Wally’s was founded by Joseph L. Walcott. Mr. Walcott was a Barbadian who immigrated to America in 1910. After reaching Ellis Island, Mr. Walcott, better known as Wally, joined his brother, who had migrated a few years earlier, in Boston. Wally held many jobs, and with his savings he opened Wally’s Paradise at 428 Massachusetts Avenue in 1947. Wally was the first African American to own a nightclub in New England; he brought new and exciting acts to town and the nightclub became a featured attraction for jazz aficionados who rushed to see the famous bands of the day.

The Sixties arrived and the Big Band era was diminishing. Wally maintained his commitment to the music we know as jazz by featuring young musicians who were attending prominent academic institutions such as Berklee College of Music, the Boston Conservatory, and the New England Conservatory of Music. Mr. Walcott cleverly decided to hire these young music students and mixed them with seasoned professionals who were veterans of the Big Band era. This mix of talent was special, and the format enabled Mr. Walcott to continue to serve the jazz loving audiences of New England.

In 1979 Wally closed its original location at 428 Massachusetts Avenue and moved across the street to 427 Massachusetts Avenue the present location of the nightclub. Wally’s Café now features live music 365 days a year. Many of the musicians are professionals, but Wally’s still maintains its tradition of providing students with a stage to perfect their craft.

ALL-ABOUT-JAZZ

LiveMusic365 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:34:41 +0000

Open Jam with Jason Palmer

Wally’s Cafe

Boston, Massachusetts
October 18, 2009

It’s New England, and a mixture of rain and snow falls on this October day. Beyond a red door lies a small, rectangular room. At the far end of the bar, a TV is tuned to the game. But you don’t come here for the game. You come here for the music.

This is Wally’s Cafe. A place with a long-standing tradition of Sunday afternoon jazz jams.

Beyond the bar, four musicians crowd together. The air comes alive as notes ring on Jason Palmer’s trumpet. Palmer is accompanied by guitarist, and fellow New England Conservatory alumni, Greg Duncan. Bassist Lim Yang and drummer Lee Fish, join them. The band opens with “Guidance,” one of Palmer’s original pieces, and then plays “Dear Lord” by John Coltrane.

As Palmer finishes his slow, winding solo, applause breaks the room’s silence. Palmer gently nods his head, and appreciatively holds his trumpet toward the crowd. He steps aside, admiring Duncan’s guitar solo. For these few moments, Palmer is simply part of the audience.

With the conclusion of the Coltrane piece, Palmer opens up the bandstand. Scanning the crowd, he taps a bassist, guitarist, and drummer—students from the surrounding community.

Taking a moment to address the audience, Palmer identifies Wally’s, as a home away from home. He began attending these open jam sessions in 1997, back when he started his studies at NEC. He’s been leading them since 1999.

Palmer calls a guest to the stage. Ken Schaphorst, present jazz studies chair at the New England Conservatory, has an announcement: The 40th anniversary celebration of jazz at NEC.

The music resumes. Palmer calls a variety of tunes: “Serenity” by Joe Henderson, “Seven Steps to Heaven” by Miles Davis, and Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice” among them. At one point, the band alternates brief, four-measure solos or, in jazz parlance, “trading fours.” A young drummer seems slightly hesitant, but Palmer pushes the musician, with a hand gesture directing him to solo. Embracing this new- found freedom, the musician begins to explore.

Palmer is from High Point, North Carolina, the same neighborhood in which John Coltrane was raised. He was encouraged to apply to NEC by Ronnie Ingle, his private trumpet instructor back home. While a student at NEC, the trumpeter studied with John McNiel, Danilo Perez, Cecil McBee, and Jerry Bergonzi. Reflecting on his time at NEC, Palmer identifies several things he took away from the experience: “For one, I thought that solfege was a gym class. I learned how to transpose, orchestrate, arrange, transcribe, etc., but most importantly, I learned how to self-analyze my practicing habits. I was always encouraged to ask myself why I was practicing what I was practicing. I was led to ask, ‘Am I practicing this because I can already play it and it sounds good to me, or am I practicing this because it’s challenging to me right now and I want it to sound good later?’”

Sunday afternoons at Wally’s aren’t just open jams, they’re also music clinics where musicians can learn and grow. In addition to exploring personal artistic limits, musicians experiment with different approaches to keeping the music fresh.

“We’ll play a standard in its non-original key or we’ll change the time signature of the tune,” Palmer explains. “Sometimes, we’ll play a tune that’s meant to be played fast, then really slow, or vice-versa. We’ll play a tune in one key and have the soloist play those change through all 12 keys. Sometimes we’ll start a tune, that tune will morph into another tune, and we’ll end on the new tune. So it’s always interesting to me.”

When describing Wally’s, Palmer said, “It represents a place where musicians can come and hone their craft to the point where they can push themselves. I find complete freedom here, and I hope the other musicians feel the same way.”

Palmer encourages young musicians, especially students, to attend the open jams. “When I was a student at NEC, I went to the session every week, and there were tons of players there playing and sharing. And now, many of those players have gone on to have very successful careers: Kendrick Scott, Warren Wolf, Jaleel Shaw, Lionel Loueke, Francisco Mela, Leo Genovese, Jeremy Pelt, and Walter Smith III to name just a few.”

BOSTON BRAHMIN

LiveMusic365 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:30:28 +0000

Wally’s Cafe; Boston’s Last Living Jazz Club

BY CAROLINE STEUERNAGEL

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

When exploring the jazz scene in Boston one can call upon the immortal words of Simon and Garfunkel, “Here I am, the only living boy in New York”. A town once rife with jazz performers and clubs on every corner now finds itself left with the bare minimum. Wally’s Cafe, though located in Boston’s newly developed South End neighborhood, is anything but trendy when it comes to putting on a classic jazz show.

Established in 1947 and family-run ever since, Wally’s provides live jazz music 365 days a year from some of the most talented and up-and-coming musicians working to perfect their craft. Situated conveniently on the corner of Massachusetts and Columbus avenues, Wally’s Cafe is surrounded by some of the most highly regarded music institutions in Boston including both the New England and Boston Conservatories of Music. The small, almost undetectable, entrance and cozy close-knit atmosphere of the night club can transport anyone back to the jazz age. The artists themselves feed off of the exuberant energy of their audience but it’s not your average bar scene. You’ll find no drunken brawls or screaming undergrads here. From the moment you step in to Wally’s to the moment you leave, a mellow anD

genial experience has been shared by all.

Wally’s Café is open seven days a week.
The club’s hours of operation are 11:00 am until 2:00 am Monday through Saturday and 12:00 pm until 2:00 am on Sundays.

Jazz Boston Review

LiveMusic365 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:41:54 +0000

Boston’s Jazz Community Assembles at Wally’s Café for First-Ever Video Portrait

Nearly 100 members of Boston’s jazz community were assembled by JazzBoston on Aug. 8, 2009, at Wally’s Café for a first-ever video portrait to introduce the nonprofit organization’s new TV series, “What‘s Your Jazz?” The photo shoot was followed by a sidewalk barbeque courtesy of Soul Fire and a jam session with the WeJazzUp band inside the club.

The video and still images taken in front of Wally’s Café, recently designated an historic site by the Boston Historical Society, captured a cross-section of people whose lives are closely connected to the music. Among the musicians assembled were Mae Arnette, Walter Beasley, Dominique Eade, Ken Field, Laszlo Gardony, Jim Hobbs, Yoron Israel, Wannetta Jackson, Grace Kelly, Charlie Kohlhase, Jason Palmer (the show’s co-host), Bill Pierce, Kurtis Rivers, Syd Smart, Al Vega, Andre Ward, Larry Watson, and Frank Wilkins (the show’s director and host).

Also present besides the musicians and their families were community leaders, educators, presenters, producers, journalists, and others who work in the art or business of jazz in Boston. Among them were the legendary community activist Mel King; Roxbury Action Program founder and director Lloyd King; Director of the Governor’s Office of Community Affairs Ron Bell; jazz writer Bob Blumenthal; long-time chronicler of Boston’s jazz scene Kay Bourne; Wally’s owner and manager, with her family, Elynor Walcott; the Reverend Michael Haynes; former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky; and JazzBoston board members Pauline Bilsky, Don Carlson, Allan Chase, Tammy Dowley-Blackman, Mark Harvey, Jason Palmer, Emmett Price III and Dayla Arabella Santurri.

“Saturday was a dream come true for JazzBoston,” said Pauline Bilsky, the organization’s Executive Director. “People came together from every part of our city’s jazz community. There were young children, octogenarians and everything in between. The energy and the love were palpable,” she continued. “Jazz is alive and well in Boston.”

JazzBoston’s “What’s Your Jazz?” TV series, a celebration of Boston’s rich jazz culture and the neighborhoods it springs from, will debut this fall on Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN). The one-hour weekly show will expose Boston-based artists representing different styles, ages, and ethnic groups, and highlight the connection between jazz and community. Live performances and interviews will be punctuated by regularly recurring segments such as “A Boston Jazz History Minute” and “Nuts and Bolts — Things You Thought Everyone But You Knew About Jazz.”

JazzBoston is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building and serving audiences for jazz music, fostering and expanding opportunities for jazz musicians, and raising Boston’s profile as one of the world’s great jazz cities. For more information, visit the JazzBoston website at www.jazzboston.org.

HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST PHOTO CREDIT: Roger Tully, Tully Productions

The full group gathered at Wally’s Café, listed alphabetically:

Gil Aharon
José Alicea
Mae Arnette
John Baboian
Bill Banfield
Walter Beasley
Ron Bell
Sergio Bellotti
Bob Blumenthal
Kay Bourne
Lance Bryant
Allan Chase with sons Julian and Stephen
Arni Cheatham
Henry Cook
Jo Davis
Daniel Day
Tammy Dowley-Blackman
Greg Duncan
Dominique Eade
David Eure
Ken Field
Lee Fish
Laszlo Gardony
Bruce Gertz
Dotty Guild
Janice Haneef
Mark Harvey
Adrienne Hawkins
Rev. Michael Haynes
Curtis Henderson Jr.
Jim Hobbs
Joe & Yuka Hunt
Tim & Caroline Ingles
Yoron Israel
Wannetta Jackson
Tshombe Johnson
Grace Kelly & family
Jo Kent
Alexandria King
Lloyd & Kaicee King
Mel King
Cleopatra Knight-Wilkins
Charlie Kohlhase
Eula Lawrence
Florence Lewis
Pat Loomis
Antonio & Aidan Shiell-Loomis
Bill Lowe & Mary Cox
Maxim Lubarsky
Jay Mahler
Liam Malloy
Lance Martin
Richard Matra
David Maxwell
Cercie Miller
Ron Murphy
Judith Murray
Anthony Neal
Lenny Nelson
Bob Nieske
Tom O’Toole
Jason Palmer
Michael Peipman
Zelma Peterson
Bill Pierce
Robert Pinsky
Paul Poindexter
Eric Preusser with daughter Erica
Emmett Price III with son Nicholas
V. Raffini
Kurtis Rivers
Larry Roland
Rob Rose
Rollins Ross
Marc Rossi
Dayla Arabella Santurri
Ron Savage
Ken Schaphorst
Pamela & Marc Seigle
Nat Simpkins
William Singleton
Syd Smart
Hank & Jane Solomon
Brenda Parks Taylor
Alvin Terry
Al Vega
Elynor Walcott
Andre Ward
Larry Watson
Frank Wilkins
Patrice Williamson
Lim Yang

Newz The New England Ethics News Review

LiveMusic365 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:34:47 +0000

Wally’s Jazz Club Still a Cultural Icon, Since 1934

Posted October 25th, 2008 by Mary

Source:

BayStateBanner.com

Writer:

Melony Swasey

Wally’s Café Jazz Club has been a musical and cultural institution in Boston since 1934. (photo: Derek Lumpkins, BayStateBanner.com)

The following article is from baystatebanner.com/.

Wally’s Café Jazz Club [in Boston] has long been one of America’s most cherished jazz joints.

Music lovers from all over gravitate to the venerable brownstone for riveting blues, Latin jazz, funk and fusion.

On any given night, the club’s tiny stage might host musicians influencing the jazz world’s past, present and future. That’s often the case during its Sunday jam sessions, featuring the likes of saxophonists Branford Marsalis and Donald Harrison. But Wally’s is more than a place to take in free, live music 365 days a year. As one recent look inside the club and back through its past showed, the Mass. Ave. mainstay is a family heirloom, a cultural institution and an American historical artifact. Opened in 1934 by Joseph L. “Wally” Walcott, an immigrant from Barbados, Wally’s is one of the country’s oldest family-owned and -operated jazz venues, and was New England’s first black-owned jazz club. Situated blocks from the musical troika of Berklee College of Music, the New England Conservatory and the Boston Conservatory, the club is an incubator for notable jazz artists like saxophonists Jimmy Greene and Andre Ward. Originally called Wally’s Paradise, the club also holds a special place in American history, having forged an abiding home in what has been a prominently black community, and treated guests to late after-hours jams by Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Wally’s usually fills up with patrons from all walks of Boston life, a rare coming-together that has always characterized the club’s open, barrier-breaking and unpretentious reputation. Celia Granola of Roxbury said she comes to Wally’s “all the time.” “It’s one of the few places in Boston where every kind of person mingles,” she said. “You come in and don’t know who’s gonna be here. It’s a slice of the city.” Tony Neal, 50, said he grew up “right around the corner” from Wally’s, and has been coming to the club since he was 18. “This is my neighborhood bar,” said Neal, whose father owned a real estate business on Columbus Avenue. “I come to hear live jazz and to connect with my neighbors. There aren’t too many places for people of color to come together and socialize in this neighborhood.”

Neal said he has witnessed his neighborhood evolve into “one large Northeastern University-slash-New England Conservatory-slash-Berklee [College of Music] campus.” But, he said, Wally’s is “totally the same place.” “It’s really like two neighborhoods, the newcomers and the old-school,” Neal said. “The traditional folk all know and acknowledge each other.” Neal has seen many of the country’s jazz greats: “Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis, Lalah Hathaway, who used to live next door to me. You name them, I’ve seen them.” Last Thursday, local cultural nonprofit group Discover Roxbury hosted “A Night at Wally’s,” giving visitors a chance to delve into the club’s rich history. Derek Lumpkins, the event’s coordinator, said he expected Discover Roxbury’s first nightlife outing to draw not only attendees in their 50s and above, but also those in their 20s and 30s. “We’re trying something new,” he said. “We wanted to give younger adults some new options.” For last Thursday’s gathering, Frank Poindexter, one of Wally’s grandsons, presented a slideshow that included photographs dating back to the time of the club’s opening in 1934 and its later incorporation in 1947, showing the kind of company his grandfather kept over the decades. Poindexter talked about how Wally, who had been a taxi cab driver working around the State House and was “always networking,” befriended city and state legislator Gabriel Piemonte and Mayor James M. Curley, who helped him establish his business. Wally died in 1998 at age 101. Elynor Walcott, Wally’s daughter, now owns and manages the club with Frank and her other two sons, Paul and Lloyd. She said her father started the business “so that his people could have someplace to go.” Noting a few of the “seminal figures” who have lived in the area — including A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan — Frank Poindexter spoke of the thriving black community of that time, which included “intellectuals, major community and social organizations and business associations.” “There were even debutante balls,” he said. “Wally’s was a place where the black society could go and enjoy our music.” The intersection of Massachusetts and Columbus avenues was “a major destination on the East Coast for black Americans,” he added, and fostered a “dense concentration of world-class musicians.” Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, Lester Young and other performers flocked to Boston to perform at Storyville in Copley Square and would make their way to the many after-hours clubs in the nearby predominantly-black neighborhood. Some of the top names of that time who performed at Wally’s included Sarah Vaughan, bandleader Louis Jordan and pianist Oscar Peterson. “Two artists who led bands at Wally’s and went on to international fame were pianist Jaki Byard and drummer Alan Dawson. Both were contemporaries of Charlie Parker and John Coltrane and both had deep Boston roots,” according to Richard Vacca, a local jazz historian. But, Frank Poindexter explained, before the influence of Miles Davis rose, the music that Wally was initially able to book came primarily in the form of vaudeville stage shows, which made Wally’s Paradise part of the “chitlin’ circuit” — venues along the East Coast and in the South that welcomed black performance acts during racial segregation. “Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane — they all started somewhere,” he said. “It was the stage shows, from New Orleans and Chicago to New York. It was the migration of sound.” Elynor Walcott explained that her father would drive to New York City and Montreal to get performers to Boston. She said many notables stayed at the rooming house that her mother operated in Rutland Square. “He’d drive to New York and Canada, bring them back and house them,” she said. “Black performers stayed at the homes of black people because they couldn’t stay at white-owned establishments.” As Boston’s first black-owned club, Wally’s helped usher social integration into the city. “It forced a change in the whole area,” said Poindexter, noting that his grandfather “had the foresight to go to all the universities” around town and encourage students to visit his club. Alongside the fond memories, “A Night at Wally’s” also highlighted a bittersweet reality about the club’s surrounding community that Roxbury and South End natives have watched disappear over the last several decades. Like Neal, several Wally’s regulars described an “emotional attachment” to the neighborhood where Massachusetts and Columbus avenues intersect, and vibrate with the history of the community. “These four corners used to be the music area,” said Roxbury native Tessil Collins, who also “grew up around the corner.” He and others reminisced, listing the names of some of the bygone big-name clubs of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s: the Big M, the Pioneer, and the more upscale Hi Hat. Frank Poindexter explained that his grandfather, with the help of friends in city government, was able to relocate the club in 1979, moving it from the original Wally’s Paradise site on 428 Massachusetts Avenue directly across the street to 427 Massachusetts Avenue, where it still stands today. The original club had been large enough to fit the current club “two and half times,” and had a bar next door, said Elynor Walcott. “It’s sad that many of the black-owned institutions are not here anymore,” said Collins. “Someplace like Wally’s, we celebrate at a time when we’re losing many of them.” Frank Poindexter said his grandfather’s club would remain as it has been for generations — a part of the community’s fabric. “We’re a family-owned business, definitely committed to the city of Boston,” he said. “… It’s about the music and generations of consistency.” Wally’s regulars like 30-year-old Lindsay Flynn of Wellesley, Mass., appreciate that commitment. “It’s so important that this kind of place exists,” she said. “Wally’s is such a staple in the city, where you can mix with every cultural and generational background. People come that appreciate music, good company, good conversation — and it doesn’t waver.” Flynn carried on a lively conversation at the bar with Marty Hughes of Cambridge, Mass., a jazz aficionado in his mid-70s. Hughes is one of the establishment’s longest-running patrons; he arrived in Boston in 1955, when Wally’s Paradise was still standing. “I loved the old jazz, and Wally’s was the place to come,” Hughes said. “At the time, when black jazz musicians came to town, there weren’t that many places for them to go.” Having seen the community transform over the years, Hughes said he appreciates the changes that Wally and his family have weathered. “It’s amazing how they stuck it out, and it’s a tribute to them,” Hughes said. “[Wally] knew how to hang on to what he had and not give up. And what he was trying to do was help young jazz kids by giving them exposure. “This was a place where the color line broke down,” Hughes went on, remembering how welcoming Wally was to student musicians, “no matter where they came from.” Hughes said he can still be found taking in a jam session most Sundays. “These students play great music,” he said, and watching them helps him remember the days of John Coltrane. “I can still get psyched up on that. It takes me back on that good ol’ jazz.”

source: BayStateBanner.com

Copyright 2008 New England Ethnic News, EthnicNEWz.org. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed without the permission of the source. Contact NEWz for more information at EthnicNews {at} yahoo {dot} com.

A Jazz Unseen Review

LiveMusic365 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:28:41 +0000

A Jazz Unseen Review

http://wr121bostonjazz.blogspot.com/

Wally’s Jazz Cafe

“An Old Scene for the Older”

Price: Affordable
Age restriction: 21+
Location: South End
Accessibility: All ages that apply are welcome, no cover charge, near Symphony T stop.One of the oldest jazz clubs in Boston, established in 1947, Wally’s Jazz Cafe has managed to still thrive over the years. Although its location has changed from its original position on Massachusetts Avenue, Wally’s still maintains its historic value in Boston. Founded by Joseph L. Walcott, Wally’s Jazz Cafe was the first African American owned nightclub in New England. Mr. Walcott brought many well known jazz musicians and talented jazz acts to his venue.

Wally’s is known for it’s many student performances, “during the day it is pretty much a practice space or a training ground, rather, for many of the student bands that have gigs here,” says Elynor Walcott, daughter of the late Mr. Walcott and owner of Wally’s. Many of the student jazz musicians are from Berklee School of Music and New England Conservatory. The place seems to give off a feeling of ‘home’ for budding jazz musicians and the music lovers that frequent the venue.So why not Wally’s? Well, the cafe is only open to those ages 21 and over which puts many students at a disadvantage (unless you can play a mean saxophone rhythm then you can work something out). As for those students who are not as musically talented and have a taste for jazz music, this place is off limits until they turn 21. This seems practical because the establishment has a full bar which is opened from 11 am to 2 am. The age restriction is probably also in place to lessen the crampness of the jazz hot spot. Wally’s is known for its standing room only set up but the music, diversity, and history of the joint makes up for this fault greatly!

Style Boston Review

LiveMusic365 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:16:07 +0000

In 1947, Joseph Walcott opened a small jazz club in Boston’s South End that still remains one of the city’s greatest jazz institutions. For decades, this “Scene Spotter” has been a venue for both students and professional artists to exposé their raw talent. Wally’s Café features live music 365 days a year and played a major role introducing jazz to the New England community.

EP_238_SCENESPOTTER from styleboston on Vimeo.

My Generation/ Wally’s Cafe

LiveMusic365 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:18:29 +0000