The Key Club was a jazz club in Newark, New Jersey. [1] It closed in the 1970s, along with other jazz clubs on Halsey Street, such as Sparky J's. [2]
Walter Dawkins inherited the club from his uncle and he and his wife Jean / Jeanne ran it.
On Monday evening, March 19, 1973, Dawkins was believed to have committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a 38 colt revolver. The gun was believed to have discharged twice with one bullet in the ceiling and the other in his chest. His body was found still seated in one of the lounge chairs located near the entrance to the club which was locked. By the time of his funeral, it wasn't clear as to who found his body. [3]
At his funeral service, both Lu Elliott and Al Hibbler sang at his funeral. Elliott's husband Horace C. Sims and singer Carol Mitchell also attended. [4]
Following his death, the club was run by his wife Eugenia (Jeanne) Dawkins. [5] It was one of the jazz clubs featured on the "A Tribute to Newark Jazz Clubs" painting, a large-scale outdoor mural in Newark completed in 2013. [6]
Below is a selected list of musicians and band who played at least once at Key Club:
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Benjamin Francis Webster was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
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Sam Woodyard was an American jazz drummer.
Oscar "Ozzie" Cadena was an American record producer with Savoy Records and Prestige Records who recorded gospel and jazz music in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and helped popularize jazz music in Los Angeles.
Billy Phipps was an American jazz baritone saxophonist and composer who contributed to the development of a wide range of jazz styles including hard bop, soul jazz, Latin jazz, and primitive.
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Sparky J's, previously known as the Cadillac Club, was a popular jazz club in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Sparky J's often featured soul jazz or funky jazz best exemplified by the organ combo, a band usually consisting of a Hammond B-3 organist, a saxophonist, a drummer, and a guitarist. The club was located in downtown Newark, on the corner of Halsey and William streets. This area known locally as the "Jazz Corner of the World" in the 70s because it contained two jazz clubs: Spark J's and Key Club. Both clubs closed in the 1970s, and they were the last full-time jazz clubs in the area at the time of closing. While Key Club was free entry, Sparky J's charged admission.
Viola Gertrude Wells Evans, better known by her stage names Viola Wells or Miss Rhapsody, was an American jazz, blues, and religious singer.
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Rob Banks is an American pianist, organist and composer. The artists he has worked with include Solomon Burke and Lu Elliott.
Halsey Street is a north-south street in Downtown Newark, New Jersey, which runs between and parallel to Broad Street and Washington Street. It passes through the city's four historic districts: James Street Commons-Washington Park at the north, the abutting Military Park and Four Corners and, after a two block break, Lincoln Park at the south.
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