Kenny Boas

Piano

An accomplished bebop pianist who studied music at Cornish College, Kenny Boas played with many of Seattle’s major figures, including Billy Tolles, Roscoe Weathers, Pops Buford, Floyd Standifer and Buddy Catlett. He was also mentored by his close friend and neighbor Ray Charles when Charles lived in Seattle. Though Boas was white, he joined the black musicians union, Local 493, partly out of frustration with Seattle’s segregated unions but also because he found he had more in common with African-American musicians.

Jackson Street After Hours (print). https://www.historylink.org/File/21008