Young was in Seattle for just two years, 1950-51, but left a definitive stamp on the local be-bop scene, raising the bar technically with his speed, accuracy and creativity. Originally from New Haven, Conn., Young came to the Palomar Ballroom as accompanist for a tap dancer, but his skills at the keyboard were soon discovered by impresario Norm Bobrow, who promoted Young on the radio. Working first at the New Chinatown, then the Black Elks, and the 908 Club, Young formed a sizzling quartet with tenor saxophonist Gerald Brashear, drummer Jimmie Rodgers and bassist Traff Hubert that released a 1951 album, “Concert of Cool Jazz,” recorded live at the Ladies Musical Club and the Metropolitan Theatre. The album scored a hit on the west coast with its speedy, humorous be-bop tune, “Who Parked the Car,” with vocals by Brashear. Securing national representation, the quartet was booked for a tour that included opening for Sarah Vaughan at Birdland, in New York, but the record fizzled, the band broke up, and Young was never seen again in Seattle. … Continue readingCecil Young

The son of Evelyn Bundy, Taylor started playing tenor saxophone at age 17, studying with Frank Waldron. In 1947, while he and Quincy Jones were at Garfield High School, Taylor started a swing band with Quincy on trumpet and Buddy Catlett on alto saxophone. Bumps Blackwell offered to manage and book the group, renaming it the Bumps Black Junior Band and taking it all over the Northwest, including high society dances in the gated community of Broadmoor and a stint at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in Vancouver, B.C. One night at the Eagles Auditorium, the band backed up Billie Holiday. Taylor gave up music after high school and became an anthropology professor. … Continue readingCharles Taylor

Metcalf grew up in Michigan and California and came to Seattle when he was 15. While studying architecture at the University of Washington, he became a regular at campus jam sessions and often hosted the local jazz scene at his University District apartment. He played with Gerald Brashear at the Madison Y and snagged a job with pianist Paul Neves at the Black Elks club, in 1951. Metcalf’s music career was quiet in the ’50s, but in 1960, he began playing in the house trio at a posh new Pioneer Square jazz club, the Penthouse, backing up Ernestine Anderson, Harold Land, Dexter Gordon and others. In 1962, Anita O’Day hired the trio off the bandstand. In the-’60s he and his wife, Joni Swartz, later known as the popular lounge singer/pianist Joni Metcalf, bought a 12-room house in Madrona and Metcalf’s home once again became a sort of headquarters for the local jazz scene. In 1966, Metcalf and tuba player Lowell Richards formalized this arrangement by starting the Seattle Jazz Society. In 1972, Metcalf moved to San Franciso and on to New York, where, in 1980, he was hired by Dexter Gordon. Back in Seattle in 1982, Metcalf formed an octet that featured some of best musicians in town, but in the mid-90s he returned to San Francisco, where he retired in 2011. … Continue readingChuck Metcalf

Like Jimi Hendrix, Lewis is part of the Jackson Street pantheon more by association and lineage than by direct participation in the old jazz scene, though he did achieve his widest local fame playing at Birdland, a club that succeeded the Savoy Ballroom at 21st Avenue South and East Madison Street. Lewis’ father, also named Dave Lewis, played guitar and migrated west for war work in Bremerton at the same time Quincy Jones’ family did, and the elder Lewis gave Jones a few musical pointers. The younger Lewis attended Garfield High School and Franklin High School and formed a combo that opened for traveling rock’n’roll stars such as Bill Haley and the Comets. With a trio featuring infuential Seattle electric guitarist Joe Johansen, Lewis scored regional hits in 1962, with “David’s Mood,” and in 1964, with “Little Green Thing.” Though he continued to appear at venues such as the Black and Tan and Sonny Booker’s Checkmate, Booker declined in popularity as tastes changed and he eventually fell into drug addiction and did prison time. … Continue readingDave Lewis

Billed as “The Colored Mae West” on a revue with Eddie “Rochester” Anderson that played Seattle in 1933, Hackett was known for singing “blue” (off-color) lyrics. After coming to Seattle from Alameda, Calif., Hackett worked at the Two Pals with Palmer Johnson, who thought she was “the best I’ve ever seen…she loved to swing with the band.” Along with Russell Jones, Hackett fronted Al Pierre’s band throughout the ’40s at the Union Club and was spotted at the Black and Tan with Elmer Gill in 1950. … Continue readingDee Dee Hackett

Wilson was a significant stylist whose influence might have been felt more strongly had he lived longer. Wilson was born in Mt. Vernon, Ill. and grew up in Seattle from the age of five, where he studied with Frank Waldron and played with Joe Darensbourg at the Jungle Temple. In 1933, Wilson left town with the Gene Coy band, then played with Zack Whyte before being hired in 1936 by Kansas City band leader Andy Kirk, with whom he became a featured soloist on such records as “Lotta Sax Appeal.” Wilson died of tuberculosis. … Continue readingDick Wilson

An “entertainer,” a vocalist with an act, Rucker sometimes sang at individual tables. He was a big name in Tijuana in 1921, and may have come to Seattle in the ’20s with Los Angeles’ Black and Tan Orchestra. Contemporaries Joe Darensbourg and Palmer Johnson characterized Rucker as a highly-paid, flamboyant “blue” (off-color) singer who sang with a cane as a prop. Rucker played the Jungle Temple on Highway 99, the Entertainers Club, at 14th Avenue South and South Jefferson Street and the Black and Tan, at 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street … Continue readingEddie Rucker

Born in Kansas, pianist and bandleader Edythe Turnham (nee Pane), formed a family band called the Knights of Syncopation in Spokane in the 1920s that included her husband, Floyd, Sr. (drums), son, Floyd, Jr. (tenor saxophone) and sister, Maggie (vocals). The band enjoyed success at the Copper Kettle in Seattle and on the President Lines cruise ships, which plied the West Coast. In 1928, the Knights were picked up by the Orpheum Circuit, but got stranded in L.A., where Turnham stayed, forming the Dixie Aces, which performed until 1945. … Continue readingEdythe Turnham

Raised in Indianapolis, Gill came to Seattle in 1946 after being discharged from Ft. Lewis and worked in a trio at the Rocking Chair, playing and singing in a Nat Cole style. He subsequently worked at Sessions Playhouse with Al Hickey (tenor saxophone) and Al Larkins (bass) then at the Black and Tan. Gill also worked downtown at the Spinning Wheel with a band called the Question Marks, with Bob Braxton (alto saxophone and vocals), Duke Moore (drums) and Milt Price (guitar). After a stint with Lionel Hampton, in an edition of the band that also included Seattleities Ernestine Anderson and Quincy Jones, Gill returned to Seattle and ran a very popular club on South Jackson Street near Fifth Avenue South, the Ebony, playing there in a trio that featured guitarist Al Turay and bassist Al Larkins until 1957 and reopening in 1959. Gill was instrumental in lobbying the musicians’ unions to amalgamate, thus ending 40 years of racial segregation in Seattle music. In the early ’60s, Gill moved to Canada and lived there and in Europe. … Continue readingElmer Gill