Rockhead's Paradise

Last updated

Rockhead's Paradise was a night club in Montreal, Canada, the first in the city to be owned by a black businessman. From circa 1931 until its demise in 1977, Rockhead's, as it was known locally, featured singers, dancers, comedians, and other African-American entertainers, mostly brought in from the United States; they were accompanied on stage by a house band of local black musicians. The three-story building also housed a street-level bar where jazz musicians, mostly local, performed, and a tavern. [1] [2] [3]

In 1928, Rufus Rockhead, a Jamaican-born immigrant, First World War veteran, and former railroad porter, bought the building at 1258 St.Antoine Street West, corner of Mountain street. [4] The three-story building initially housed hotel rooms on the top floor. In 1931, Rockhead converted the second and third floors into a cabaret-style night club. [5]

Rufus Rockhead faced an excessive amount of discrimination as a Black business owner. While segregation laws did not exist in Canada, prejudice was still very much alive. When attempting to obtain his liquor license, he was rejected his first time. He personally went to the liquor commissioner at the time, who told him 'You know we don't give licenses to coloured people'; despite this, he was still able to procure his license. [6]

The club became famous for the high quality of its all-black stage shows and the hospitality of its owner, who greeted patrons individually at the top of the stairs. Famous African-American musicians and entertainers, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald, often frequented the club after finishing their engagements elsewhere in the city, and sometimes performed impromptu on stage with the house band. In the 1940s, the club was known for some of Montreal's first performances by so-called female impersonators, featuring performers such as Dick Montgomery, Malva Bolda, and Billie McAllister. [7]

The club was located in Little Burgundy, a mainly black, inner-city residential neighbourhood where several Canadian jazz musicians grew up, notably Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones. While the club was popular with both black and white patrons, some white Canadians felt that it “jeopardized white Canadians’ morality and white womanhood in particular,”. [8] Rockhead was also known for encouraging younger local musicians, some of whom became members of the house band and/or played in his street-level bar/ jazz club.

In 1936, Premier Maurice Duplessis, the Premier of Quebec passed the Padlock Law, making the distributionof Communist propaganda illegal and gave permission for authorities to repress any building that was questioned. Rockhead's was under a constant state of surveillance, with guests and workers often witnessing raids pushed by officials. [9] [10]

In 1975 Rockhead suffered a stroke. Two years later his son Kenny Rockhead sold the club to Roué Doudou Boicel, who moved his jazz and blues nightclub The Rising Sun there from its original home on Sainte-Catherine Street West. [11] The move proved unsuccessful, and The Rising Sun subsequently moved back to its original home. The building was later resold and demolished, a victim of gentrification.

Rufus Rockhead died in a Montreal veteran's hospital in 1981.

In 1989, Rufus Rockhead was memorialized by the city of Montreal with a street named in his honor. [12]

In 2012, Montreal pianist Billy Georgette organized “Rockhead’s Last Jam” in honour of the club and its owner. The jam session included Oliver Jones, Norman Marshall Villeneuve, Leroy Mason, Glenn Bradley and Richard Parris.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Storyville, New Orleans</span> Human settlement in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America

Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 to 1917. It was established by municipal ordinance under the New Orleans City Council, to regulate prostitution. Sidney Story, a city alderman, wrote guidelines and legislation to control prostitution within the city. The ordinance designated an area of the city in which prostitution, although still nominally illegal, was tolerated or regulated. The area was originally referred to as "The District", but its nickname, "Storyville", soon caught on, much to the chagrin of Alderman Story. It was bound by the streets of North Robertson, Iberville, Basin, and St. Louis Streets. It was located by a train station, making it a popular destination for travelers throughout the city, and became a centralized attraction in the heart of New Orleans. Only a few of its remnants are now visible. The neighborhood lies in Faubourg Tremé and the majority of the land was repurposed for public housing. It is well known for being the home of jazz musicians, most notably Louis Armstrong as a minor.

As a cosmopolitan city, Quebec is a home to varied genres of music, ranging from folk to hip hop. Music has played an important role in Quebecer culture. In the 1920s and '30s, singer/songwriter Madam Bolduc performed comedic songs in a folk style with Irish influences. Quebec's most popular artists of the last century include Félix Leclerc (1950s), Gilles Vigneault (1960s–present), Kate and Anna McGarrigle (1970s–present) and Céline Dion (1980s–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonial Tavern</span> Canadian jazz venue

The Colonial Tavern was one of the most famous jazz venues in Canada from the 1950s till its closure in the late 1970s. It was located at 201–203 Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario where a historic plaque remembered this key jazz venue. The Colonial Tavern was owned and managed by brothers-in-law Mike (Myer) G. Lawrence, Goodwin (Goody) and Harvey Lichtenberg. 197–199 Yonge Street and 201–203 Yonge Street were purchased by Sal Parasuco of Montreal, Quebec, who planned to erect a hotel. The properties were sold to MOD Developments of Toronto in January 2012 for the Massey Tower condo project

Carling O'Keefe was a brewing company in Canada that is now part of Molson Coors. The company's origins can be traced to Canadian Breweries, which bought the Carling Brewery in 1930 and the O'Keefe Brewery in 1934. Canadian Breweries purchased numerous other brewers – some to shut down, and some solely for their brands. In 1969, Canadian Breweries was acquired by a subsidiary of Rothmans, which renamed the company as Carling O'Keefe in 1973. The company was sold in 1987, then merged with Molson in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ranee Lee</span> Canadian jazz musician

Ranee Lee, CM is an American jazz singer and musician who resides in Montreal, Quebec. She is also an actor, author, educator and television host. Referred as “Montreal's Queen of Jazz,” Lee is a Juno Award winner, two-time Top Canadian Female Jazz Vocalist by Jazz Report Magazine and was honored with the International Association of Jazz Educators Awards for her outstanding contribution to jazz music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Jones (pianist)</span> Canadian jazz pianist, organist, composer and arranger

Oliver Theophilus Jones, is a Canadian jazz pianist, organist, composer and arranger.

Charles Reed Biddle, was an American-Canadian jazz bassist. He lived most of his life in Montreal, organizing and performing in jazz music events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Burgundy</span> Neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Little Burgundy is a neighbourhood in the South West borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Nelson Symonds was a Canadian jazz guitarist born in Upper Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugar Hill Historic District (Detroit)</span> Historic district in Michigan, United States

The Sugar Hill Historic District is a historic district in Detroit, Michigan. It contains 14 structures located along three streets: East Forest, Garfield, and East Canfield, between Woodward Avenue on the west and John R. on the east. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Located today on 427 Massachusetts Avenue, Wally’s Cafe originally opened across the street on January 1st 1947 by Joseph L Walcott. Formerly Wally’s Paradise, the institution is recognized as one of Boston’s oldest and longest operating Jazz clubs. Through the 50's, Wally’s stage offered a home to a reliable core of local Jazz musicians including the likes of Fat Man Robinson, Bunny Campbell, Art Foxall, Herbie and Roland Lee, Joe Perry, Stanley Trotman, Sabby Lewis, and Mabel Robinson. Outliving all the neighboring jazz institutions, Wally’s Cafe was given the ‘historic’ label in 1997 by the City of Boston’s Business Heritage Project for staying in business for over 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union United Church</span> Church congregation and building in Canada

The Union United Church of Montreal is Montreal, Quebec, Canada's oldest black congregation. It was founded in 1907 by several members of Montreal's black community who experienced racial conflict and were banned from entering all-white churches. Union was started with a treasury of just $1.83. The church has gone on to have a long and rich history, and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007. It is just one of the many churches that are part of the United Church of Canada. It is believed to be the only church affiliated with the United Church of Canada, however, that worships in the historically black tradition and has a predominantly black congregation.

Black Theatre Workshop (BTW) is a non-profit theater company based in Montreal and is one of the oldest Black English-speaking professional theatre companies in the Canada. It was established by Clarence Bayne and Arthur Goddard, who previously also founded the Trinidad and Tobago association. The Black Theatre Workshop is known for featuring many prominent artistic directors over the years.

Paul Hoeffler was a photographer who worked in Rochester, New York, New York City, and Toronto, Canada. Hoeffler is mostly known for his photographs of the American Jazz scene of the 1950s and 1960s and of Jazz icons such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson, Jimmy Smith, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. He also had a great passion for classical music and cultivated a close friendship with the conductor Leopold Stokowski, whom he photographed on many occasions during performances and in private.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smalls Paradise</span> Jazz nightclub in Harlem, Manhattan, New York

Smalls Paradise, was a nightclub in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Located in the basement of 2294 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard at 134th Street, it opened in 1925 and was owned by Ed Smalls (né Edwin Alexander Smalls; 1882–1976). At the time of the Harlem Renaissance, Smalls Paradise was the only one of the well-known Harlem night clubs to be owned by an African-American and integrated. Other major Harlem night clubs admitted only white patrons unless the person was an African-American celebrity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archie Alleyne</span> Canadian jazz musician and autobiographer

Archie Alleyne was a Canadian jazz drummer. Best known as a drummer for influential jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, he was also prominent as a recording artist on his own and with Canadian jazz musicians such as Oliver Jones, Cy McLean and Brian Browne.

Black Canadians, numbering 198,610, make up 11.3% of Montreal's population, as of 2021, and are the largest visible minority group in the city. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean and of continental African origin, though the population also includes African American immigrants and their descendants

Black and Tan clubs were nightclubs in the United States in the early 20th century catering to the black and mixed-race ("tan") population. They flourished in the speakeasy era and were often popular places of entertainment linked to the early jazz years. With time the definition simply came to mean black and white clientele.

Gilles Mathieu, better known as "Trooper", is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster who served as the secretary to the elite Nomad chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Quebec from 1995 to his arrest in 2001.

References

  1. ↑ Gilmore, John (2011). Swinging in Paradise: The Story of Jazz in Montreal. Ellipse Editions. ISBN   978-0986786600.
  2. ↑ Winks, Robin (2000). The Blacks in Canada: A History. 2nd Ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP. pp. 332–35.
  3. ↑ Williams, Dorothy (1997). Road to Now: : A History of Blacks in Montreal. Quebec: Véhicule Press. p. 44.
  4. ↑ Mathieu, Sarah-Jane (2010). North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955. USA: North Carolina UP. pp. 71, 201, 240.
  5. ↑ Miller, Mark (2003). The Miller Companion to Jazz in Canada and Canadians in Jazz. The Mercury Press. pp.  172. ISBN   155128093-0.
  6. ↑ Thompson, Cheryl; Jabouin, Emilie. "Black Media Reporting on Theater, Dance, and Jazz Clubs in Canada: From Shuffle along to Rockhead's Paradise". Sage Journals. Ryerson University.
  7. ↑ Namaste, Viviane (2005). C'était du spectacle!: L'histoire des artistes transsexuelles à Montréal, 1955-1985. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 12.
  8. ↑ Mathieu, Sarah-Jane (2010). North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada,1870-1955. USA: North Carolina UP. p. 6.
  9. ↑ Thompson, Cheryl. "Black Media Reporting on Theater, Dance, and Jazz Clubs in Canada: From Shuffle along to Rockhead's Paradise". Sage Journals. Ryerson University.
  10. ↑ Williams, Terell. "Standing on their Shoulders (STS) - Stories from Royal Arthur School". YouTube. Black Community Resource Centre.
  11. ↑ Miller, Mark (2003). The Miller Companion to Jazz in Canada and Canadians in Jazz. The Mercury Press. pp.  170, 173. ISBN   155128093-0.
  12. ↑ "Commission de toponymie du Québec" . Retrieved June 7, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.