We are so grateful that Wally’s Café Jazz Club still exists in Boston

Frank Poindexter, the grandson of original Wally’s owner Joseph “Wally” Walcott, who along with his brothers runs the daily operations of the jazz club. / Photo by Pat Piasecki.

There are legends and there are Legends. Wally’s Café Jazz Club is the latter—a 77-year-old, family-run Legend. Billie Holiday performed there. As did American jazz greats Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakeley. One of the first racially integrated venues in the region, the South End venue was the first nightclub in New England owned by a black man, Joseph “Wally” Walcott, an immigrant from Barbados and the first black man to receive a liquor license in Boston. More recently, Grammy-winning singer Esperanza Spalding and Mark Kelley, bassist for the Roots, have shown off their skills on Wally’s stage. As trumpeter Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah ​​told Boston in 2021: “Wally’s is a monument.”

Opened in 1947 as Wally’s Paradise, the Mass. Ave. venue was originally located across the street until the city took over the site through expropriation in 1978. The following year, Walcott moved his namesake club to its current premises. Walcott died in 1998 at age 101, but aside from a COVID-related hiatus, his family has kept the club open 365 days a year since then.

Joseph “Wally” Walcott at the bar of the club he founded in 1947. / Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Located within walking distance of Berklee and the New England Conservatory, Wally’s has always been an incubator for local talent. “When new musicians come into the schools here, the professors tell them, ‘Go play at Wally’s and work on your craft,'” says Walcott’s grandson Frank Poindexter, who runs the day-to-day operations along with his brothers Paul and Lloyd while their mother, the legal owner of Wally’s, handles administrative duties. “Here’s a place to do that. It’s a safe environment.”

It’s also a welcoming environment, a neighborhood bar that, despite its heritage, lacks any pretentiousness. The kind of place where playing fields are made at ground level, where conversation is easy, social and economic hierarchies dissolve, and no one is allowed to act like an idiot. All of this makes Wally’s a magnet for celebrities. One night, Kayak co-founder Paul English brought Bill Murray, who danced and cavorted happily; another time, English brought ’80s pop singer Taylor Dayne, who joined the musicians onstage in an impromptu rendition of “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” According to Poindexter, Felicia Rashad stopped by, and the cast of The cable. Norwell-born blues guitarist Susan Tedeschi and her husband, Southern rocker Derek Trucks. Playwright August Wilson, who died in 2005, was a regular guest.

A scene from Wally’s early years. / Photo courtesy of Wally’s Cafe

Talking to Poindexter, it’s clear – and very encouraging – that his family views Wally’s not just as a business, but as a community service and community service. “We pride ourselves on being able to help young musicians and bring joy to people,” he says. “Maybe people are having a bad day… and they can come and hear a band and that will calm them down.”

For the Poindexter family, Wally’s is not only one of the last remaining custodians of a jazz club tradition, but also a model for long-term collaboration. “We want to set an example that it is possible for families to stick together, do something, and have the patience and strength to stick with it and see the good things that come out of it,” Poindexter explains. Good things like the value of a third-space community or, as Poindexter puts it, “things that can contribute to American society.”

In other words, after nearly 80 years in business and nine Best of Boston awards (including this year’s), there’s still something truly magical about Wally’s. “That’s why we keep doing what we do,” Poindexter says. “To create a story that can last a generation or two or three.”

A version of this story first appeared in the print edition of Boston’s July 2024 issue as part of the “Best of Boston 50: Arts & City Life” package.

Camille Dodero can be reached at [email protected].