Hugely influential in Seattle and an important national record producer in early rock’n’roll (Little Richard, Sam Cooke), Robert “Bumps” Blackwell was a 1936 graduate of Garfield High School, studied music at Cornish College and began to show up on as a performer in the late ’30s, playing with Al Turay and arranging choral music for a musical. A better promoter than he was a musician, Blackwell ran a butcher shop on 23rd Avenue East and East Madison Street and led a variety of bands at the Washington Social Club, upstairs. He often had three to five bands working in various venues all over the city. His lasting contribution to Jackson Street was taking over the Charlie Taylor band that featured Quincy Jones and Buddy Catlett, which he renamed The Bumps Blackwell Junior Band and booked all over the Northwest. Blackwell left Seattle in 1950. … Continue readingRobert “Bumps” Blackwell

Born in Spokane, Rowles came to Seattle in 1937 to study at the University of Washington but spent most of his time in Jackson Street jazz clubs, including the Black and Tan, where he recalled hearing tenor saxophonist Aaron Davis. Palmer Johnson and Julian Henson were both mentors to Rowles, who eventually dropped out of school and went to Los Angeles, where he became an internationally known pianist and vocal accompanist, playing and recording with Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Dexter Gordon, and Gerry Mulligan and accompanying Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, June Christy and others. In his late career, he was known for having mentored Diana Krall. … Continue readingJimmie Rowles

Born and raised in Seattle, Joni Metcalf (nee Swartz) started visiting Jackson Street clubs with a fake ID when she was still at Lincoln High School, catching Ray Charles at the Rocking Chair and getting booked into the 908 Club, singing and playing piano for Pops Buford, in 1949. In 1951, she appeared with Bumps Blackwell at the Orpheum Theater as a pianist accompanying Floyd Standifer and in a scat trio that also featured Roscoe Weathers. That same year she was at Washington Hall on the bill with Billie Holiday. Swartz married Chuck Metcalf in 1952 and their home in the University District became a site for jam sessions that included touring musicians, such as members of the Stan Kenton band. Later, in Madrona, their larger home served much the same purpose. Joni forged a high-profile local career in downtown lounges, recording albums with pianist Jerome Gray. In 1970s, she started teaching vocal jazz at Cornish College and later developed a music career development class. She also revived her performance career, recording an instrumental album, “Ringaround,” in 1982. … Continue readingJoni Metcalf

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Darensbourg studied with great early jazz clarinetist Alphonse Picou and came to Seattle in 1929, where he was based through the early ’40s. Joe taught saxophonist Dick Wilson, played at the Jungle Temple, Club Royale (aka “Bucket of Blood”), Black and Tan and on the President Line cruises from Los Angeles to Seattle. He was highly regarded by his peers and played a major role in the Dixieland Revival of the early 1940s, recording with Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and other major New Orleans figures. … Continue readingJoe Darensbourg

Though he didn’t arrive in Seattle from Detroit until 1961, Brazil performed at one of the last vestiges of the Jackson Street era, the Mardi Gras, on East Madison Street, and immediately connected with the older generation of musicians in the neighborhood, including Milt Garred, Jabo Ward and Floyd Standifer. Recognizing perhaps before anybody else that the tradition needed to be passed on, Brazil established his Black Academy of Music (later known as the Brazial Academy), where young musicians such as Ed Lee, George Hurst, Sam Chambliss and Doug Barnett were students. In 1965, Brazil recorded with John Coltrane for an album issued as “Om,” taught at Garfield High School and developed a black music curriculum at the University of Washington, where he taught jazz history. … Continue readingJoe Brazil

Adams studied with Frank Waldron and played with the Garfield Ramblers and Joe Darensbourg in the 1920s. Jimmy also sometimes served as leader of the Garfield Ramblers, which was known variously in the ’20s as the Jimmy Adams Collegiate 4, 5, or 6. Adams but committed suicide in 1937 over a love affair. … Continue readingJimmy Adams

Hendrix figures in the Jackson Street jazz story more by association and lineage than by any direct participation in the jazz scene, but Seattle’s blues- and beat-based music definitely affected his development. Hendrix’s father, Al, was a noted jitterbugger and his mother worked as a teenager in a Jackson Street club known as the “Bucket of blood.” Like so many Jackson Street jazzers, he attended Garfield High School (though he flunked out), and grew up musically in the gritty, blues-influenced milieu of the “Northwest rock” sound developed the Wailers and others. Hendrix played with one of his first bands, the Velvetones, at Birdland, where Billy Tolles had started the Savoy Boys, and at Washington Hall, with the Rocking Kings. … Continue readingJimi Hendrix

Hatfield formed a gospel quartet in high school in Philadelphia and subsequently sang with the Four Keys, which backed up Ella Fitzgerald in 1942-43, recording with Ella for Decca. After a stint in the service, Hatfield came to Seattle with The Jimmy White Trio, playing piano, and in 1951 decided to make Seattle his home. Hatfield played regularly at the Tennis Club, in the Central District, with Floyd Standifer at the Flame, and in the 1980s and 1990s with the popular Inner City Jazz Quartet, with Jabo Ward (tenor saxophone) or Don Lanphere in the saxophone chair. … Continue readingErnie Hatfield

A student of Frank Waldron, Bundy played piano, saxophone, drums and banjo, co-led the Garfield Ramblers, formed by her and drummer Leonard Gayton in 1926 and named after Garfield High School. One of the Central Area’s more popular bands, it was known for traveling to gigs in a hearse. In 1929, Bundy married Charles Taylor; their son, Charles Taylor, Jr. led the first band Quincy Jones played at Garfield in the 1940s. … Continue readingEvelyn Bundy

Born in Seattle and raised by well-to-do club operator Russell “Noodles” Smith and his first wife, Evelyn’s sister, Elbee, Williams graduated from Garfield High School and studied voice and piano in Washington, D.C. Upon returning to Seattle, she sand with pianist Oscar Holden at Doc Hamilton’s after-hours club; the Chinese Gardens; and Finnish Hall. In the ’30s, Williamson married alto sax man Marshal Royal. Royal became the lead alto player for Lionel Hampton, who hired Williamson as his first female vocalist. With Hampton, in 1940, she recorded “I Nearly Lost My Mind,” written by Seattle band leader Gaylord Jones. She retired in the 1950s. … Continue readingEvelyn Williamson