[Dixielandjazz] Northwest African American Museum Revives Jazz-Era Seattle

[Robert Ringwald]

Northwest African American Museum Revives Jazz-Era Seattle
by Michael Upchurch
Seattle Times, April 23, 2010
Just look at the gal in the photo. She's got poise, she's got style, she's got charisma
to spare. And she looks as though her song could either break your heart or get you
out on the dance floor.
Who is she?
No one knows.
Nevertheless, "After Hours: The Joint Is Jumpin'" -- on exhibit at the Northwest
African American Museum -- vividly evokes the Pacific Northwest jazz milieu she was
part of.
The singer's name isn't the only thing lost to the passage of time. There's no film
documentation and few recordings of the music scene that flourished in Seattle, Spokane
and Portland between the 1930s and '50s.
"It's just kind of missing," exhibit curator Brian J. Carter laments.
What we have instead are black-and-white photographs and memorabilia: sheet music,
newspaper clippings, the trumpet of local jazz luminary Floyd Standifer, the camera
equipment of Seattle jazz photographer Al Smith ... even a coat-check medallion that
briefly resided in Louis Armstrong's pocket when he played Portland's McElroy's Spanish
Ballroom in 1948.
There are also installations re-creating a nightclub booth and a dressing room, the
latter based on the memories of local jazz singer Ernestine Anderson. Many of the
photos and anecdotes in the exhibit are drawn from a 1993 book by Seattle Times jazz
writer Paul de Barros, "Jackson Street After Hours." But there's new material here,
too, especially in the items focusing on Spokane and Portland.
One strong theme that emerges is the extent to which military and Jim Crow-era segregation
inadvertently spawned an intense music scene by confining it to certain parts of
town on certain days of the week. One example: The Trianon Ballroom, one of the biggest
in Seattle, was open to African Americans only one night a week.
Carter admits he was "a little shocked" at the way this was dealt with by black people
at the time. "They actually called it 'spook night,'" he says with a shake of his
head. "I guess you've got to make light of it, or else you can be dragged down by
it."
Another eye-opener is the way that touring headliners -- Armstrong, Billie Holiday,
Duke Ellington -- offered local talents a chance to make connections and jump-start
national careers. The liveliness of the Seattle scene took some visiting players
by surprise.
"It was a very serious, New Orleans kind of feeling," said saxophonist Fred Greenwell,
who moved here in 1946. "Just gala whoopee-time, all night long."
A music soundtrack, featuring tunes by Anderson, Standifer, Spokane's Mildred Bailey
("Rockin' Chair"), the Quincy Jones Big Band and others, lends atmosphere to the
exhibit. Originally assembled by de Barros, the soundtrack has one new addition:
"Seattle on the Puget Sound" by "the patriarch of early Seattle Jazz," Oscar Holden,
re-created by his jazz-player son David.
Still, it's the photos that provide some of the biggest treats.
My favorite: An elegant shot of Nora and Ross Hendrix, two entertainers who were
stranded here in 1911 after doing a vaudeville gig. They wound up settling in Seattle.
You may have heard of their grandson, also in show business: Jimi Hendrix.
"After Hours" has some interactive displays. The most inviting: a request for memories
of any venues or personalities the exhibit has overlooked. Maybe someone can identify
that unknown singer.


--Bob Ringwald
Amateur (ham) Radio call sign K6YBV
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
916/806-9551

Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?