Key Club (jazz club)

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]

Background

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 chesty. 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]

Musicians and bands

Below is a selected list of musicians and band who played at least once at Key Club:

References

  1. ↑ Mark Anthony Neal (13 September 2013). What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-135-20462-4.
  2. ↑ Barbara J. Kukla (1 March 2002). Swing City: Newark Nightlife, 1925-50. Rutgers University Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-8135-3116-8.
  3. ↑ Swing City: Newark Nightlife, 1925-50 Barbara J. Kukla Page 240 Key Club
  4. ↑ The Baltimore Afro-American March 23, 1973 Rites For Walter Dawkins, Suicide In His Club
  5. ↑ Barbara J. Kukla (2005). Defying the Odds: Triumphant Black Women of Newark. Swing City Press. ISBN 978-0-9768130-0-2.
  6. ↑ "‘A Tribute to Newark Jazz Clubs’ unveiled". Essex News Daily. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
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