The Jazz Workshop and Paul’s Mall, the two cellar rooms at 733 Boylston Street that provided the best live music in the city for 15 years, closed on April 9, 1978.
Front cover of the Mall/Workshop matchbook
It was a sad day for Boston listeners: on Sunday, April 9, Milt Jackson and the Ray Santisi Trio played the last set at the Jazz Workshop. Down the hall, B.B. King serenaded Paul’s Mall for the last time. The clubs, which hosted everyone from John Coltrane to George Carlin to Patti Smith to Sarah Vaughan, bowed to the economic reality of their situation. Weak finances forced owners Fred Taylor and Tony Mauriello to shut down. “The last six months have been burdensome, and when we realized we couldn’t get the seating we needed in order to stay in business as a ‘name’ music club, that did it for good,” Taylor told the Boston Globe.
This wasn’t the first time the unfavorable economics of the entertainment business felled a top-notch Boston area club. Carl Newman closed the Latin Quarter in 1955, George Wein closed Storyville in 1960 (he said the club kept him in “a constant purgatorial state of debt”), and Lennie Sogoloff closed Lennie’s-on-the-Turnpike in 1972. “There just wasn’t enough money coming in,” mourned George Clarke in the Daily Record when the Latin Quarter closed in May 1955. He could have written exactly the same sentence for Fred and Tony in 1978.
All were caught in a similar dilemma: customers always turned out for the big-name acts, but there weren’t enough seats in the house to generate the revenue needed to book them. And the clubs needed that revenue to cover the weeks that lost money. Fred Taylor once remarked that he paid a young George Benson $1,250 for six nights at Paul’s Mall, but after Benson had a few big hits, his price went up to $25,000. Paul’s Mall seated only about 300 per show, while Symphony Hall, in contrast, seated 2,400. A Benson or an Erroll Garner could play two shows on a one-nighter in the acoustically superior hall, and sell more tickets than they could in a week in a club. And that’s playing two shows a night. In the end, the Jazz Workshop and Paul’s Mall were squeezed out.
It’s more fun, then, to think about the life of the Jazz Workshop rather than its death. It opened in 1963, and Paul’s Mall followed a year later. (Paul’s Mall was named for pianist Paul Vallon, who managed the club when it first opened.) There were tales of Miles, Monk, and Mingus, and of lines snaking out the door and up the stairs, and of heavy rains flooding the basement clubs. Here is the schedule at the Workshop in 1971. And the whole Fred Taylor story is in What, And Give Up Showbiz?
Went there regularly from 66-72. It was great because we could get in underage. Got to see some greats. Miss it Lenny’s and Sandy’s were also great.
Fred Taylor would, of course, maintain that there were no underage patrons in the clubs except during the Sunday matinee sessions.
I saw John Coltrane there in late 1964 and in early 1965. Do you know were his band members on each of these occasions?
Robert, for some reason I don’t have the bass player for Nov 2-8 1964, but the others in the quartet were McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones.
For Mar 8-14 1965, Tyner, Jones, and Jimmy Garrison were with Coltrane.
Hi, Sad to hear of Eric Jackson’s passing. When he had just started at WBCN he would want to come an get in for free. And of course if not on “the list” no can do, unless Fred Taylor was there! Fred was always a softy lol
Eric was polite and a nice guy then, in his mid twenties, and was beginning a fine career in radio for the jazz enthusiasts of Boston. I loved his Sunday nite show on WGBH radio. God Bless Eric!
I frequented the Jazz Workshop between 71-78. I recall one fabulous New Year’s eve with Larry Coryell on stage. Everyone in the audience throwing popcorn to welcome in the new year. I saw many greats including Freddie Hubbard (blow baby blow!) and Charlie Mingus. I also witnessed Miles Davis fall through the pane glass window at the top of the stairs to the street. He played his whole set afterwards!
I have heard numerous stories about Miles at the Workshop, but never the one about him falling through the window. Not surprising he didn’t put it in his book…
Yup, Dick was a great guy, who worked his way up from bartender to manager. I think he was 6.9ft tall. Which was handy for crowd control!
I worked there Feb 1974 until it closed April 1978.
First night was Miles!
In hindsight, it was more incredible than I realized then!
Charlie, what were you doing at the clubs? I’d like to hear more —
I started as a doorman/maitre de, because we had to seat everyone to maximize admission revenue. Then I became a bartender in the Workshop and later in Paul’s Mall, or as needed. Then I was an Asst Manager, under big Dick S., he was quite a guy. Taught me a lot.
I have many incredible memories from the 2 clubs, good & bad.
Music in the 70’s was great then, not what I hear today! lol
That would be Dick Stasium, who was really tall–Ernie Santosuosso once wrote that he was so tall, he could moonlight as a telephone pole!
It was a sad day when the two clubs closed. I saw many great jazz and rock musicians there. These were great, small venues. I saw Joan Armatrading, Mose Allison (who told the audience that they could not smoke while he was playing), the Pointer Sisters, Split Enz, Pat Methany and many others.
The Pointer Sisters played Paul’s Mall just one time. Fred Taylor had good memories of the Sisters, and that gig. You caught a good show!
Fred Taylor continues to make Jazz history at Scullers..I have nerver heard one bad thing about Fred…a Great Guy…Miles only would work for Fred when he came to this area…that says it all
We’ll hear from Fred a few more times here before this year is over. But Miles also worked with Lennie Sogoloff, every year from 1966 to 1972, and some of those years he worked in both spots. As did quite a few others.