Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - If the walls of the Colored Musicians Club of Buffalo could talk, you'd hear the sounds and voices of some of the greatest musical acts in our country's history.
Between Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and countless others, the Colored Musicians Club has played host to numerous artists who went on to become some of the most well-recognized voices in American music.
The club's history traces back over 100 years.
"Back in those early years, to play in any type of club you had to be in the union. And of course with segregation a musician of color wasn't allowed to join the white Local," says George Scott, former President of the Colored Musicians Club of Buffalo, now serving on its Board of Directors.
Black musicians would form their own union in 1917, Local 533, so they could play the music that was so important to their culture. One of the founders of the union was Jesse Clipper, who Scott describes as "an early version of Sammy Davis." Clipper would die of injuries sustained while fighting in France during World War I, two years after starting the club.
Clipper's efforts to establish the union "offered these musicians to be able to play legally in the clubs, but even moreso, you were now able to bring in the top name talent," says Scott.
Some of that top talent didn't just stop in, either. Billie Holiday lived in Buffalo for a spell when she married a Buffalo man who also managed her career.
"One of the old timers [at the Club] even told me that one day he recalled seeing Billie Holiday walking down Broadway Street walking her dog."
The jazz and blues music that was and still is played at the club resonates deep with Black culture. "Not only jazz but blues and stuff, it's very emotional. It told stories. You just felt the passion in the music," says Scott. He says when jazz first came out it was demonized, but eventually began showing up in movies and became what he calls "America's music."
That music will continue to come out of the Colored Musicians Club as a renovation project is currently underway that's expected to wrap up in July. Those renovations will bring a new look to the downstairs museum and upstairs.
"We'll have an addition, and that's going to be an elevator. That's gonna be great because now if you're handicapped or elderly instead of walking up those twenty stairs you get to go in an elevator and get up to the second floor," Scott says.
When asked what he's most proud of at the Club, Scott says it's the fact that it's still standing. "When you think about that neighborhood, it was a thriving community. And then when you talk about the 60s and 70s, a lot of people left that community. And that club kind of stood alone after all those years." Scott says. He says the Club is representative of those who started it.
"It kind of exemplifies what the attitudes of those musicians were when they first formed the Local. They were gonna stand strong no matter what."
WBEN will continue to feature stories throughout the month of February celebrating Black History in Buffalo.
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