Women of Jackson
Street Jazz,
Golden West Hotel
WOMEN OF JACKSON STREET JAZZ
Women musicians played a significant role in Jackson Street jazz, though they usually sang or played piano, because in that era it was not considered “ladylike” to blow a horn, pluck a bass or pound a drum! The photographic collage here depicts seven Seattle jazz women: Evelyn Bundy-Taylor, Patti Bown, Ernestine Anderson, Gertrude “Dee Dee” Hackett, Edythe Turnham, Evelyn Williamson and Zelma Winslow.
The side of the box facing the sidewalk depicts pianist Evelyn Bundy-Taylor (1909-1983) wearing a fur stole. Her son Charles sits beside her. In the 1920s, Bundy-Taylor formed one of Seattle’s first jazz bands, the Garfield Ramblers, named after Garfield High School. The group featured Leonard Gayton on drums and the Adams brothers, Wayne (saxophone) and Jimmy (trumpet), two of the city’s finest early jazz players. Evelyn’s husband Charles sometimes drove the band around as they played on the back of a flatbed truck. Evelyn’s son, Charles, a saxophonist, formed another band at Garfield in the 1940s that featured his pal Quincy Jones on trumpet.
Evelyn Bundy-Taylor with
her son Charles Taylor, courtesy
of Charles Taylor.
Below Bundy-Taylor, flashing a big smile, is Patti Bown (1931-2008). A remarkable piano virtuoso who switched as a teenager from classical to jazz, Bown got her start in the ‘40s playing at the Washington Social Club, on East Madison Street, where she befriended a young Ray Charles. Bown later toured Europe with Quincy Jones’ big band and went on to become a first-call studio player in New York. Her album Patti Bown Plays Big Piano (Columbia Records) is a classic.​​​
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Patti Bown, courtesy
of the Bown family
The west face of the signal box depicts vocalist Ernestine Anderson (1928-2016) as well as the cover of her first album, Hot Cargo, released by Mercury Records in 1958. Apart from Jones and Charles, Anderson is Seattle’s most famous early jazz musician. She, too, attended Garfield High School and as a student headlined Jackson Street clubs such as Basin Street (Stop #8) and the Black and Tan (Stop #16). Anderson first left town with rhythm and blues band leader Johnny Otis, then later joined Lionel Hampton. Starting in the 1970s, she released more than a dozen albums for the Concord label, earning four Grammy nominations, including one for her finger-popping signature song, “Never Make Your Move Too Soon.”
The street side of the signal box portrays three musicians. At the top is vocalist Gertrude “Dee Dee” Hackett (1916?-1954?). Originally from Alameda, Calif., Hackett first performed in Seattle in 1933 at the Mardi Gras (later known as the 908 Club) at 908 Twelfth Avenue with a “Colored Revue” that also featured Eddie Anderson, later famous on television as “Rochester,” on The Jack Benny Program. During WWII, Hackett was a sensation in San Francisco as well as Seattle, where she lived until about 1950. She often performed with band leader Al Pierre at the Union Club, in Pioneer Square, as well as Rizal Hall (Stop #8). Pianist Palmer Johnson, who worked with Hackett at the Two Pals (Stop #17), said Hackett was “the best I’ve ever seen.”
Dee Dee Hackett, photo by
Al Smith, courtesy of the
Museum of History and Industry
The middle of the street side of the box features a vintage photo of Edythe Turnham (1890?-1950), who led an early Seattle jazz group called the Knights of Syncopation. Born in Kansas, Turnham got her start in Spokane, coming to Seattle in 1926. Turnham played at the Alhambra, also known as the Black and Tan (Stop #16) and the Black Elks (Stop #11), as well as for dances at the Copper Kettle, on East Madison Street. Edythe’s son Floyd, a saxophonist, attended Garfield High School where at one point the entire family band performed. In 1928, Turnham toured on the fabled Pantages circuit. She eventually moved to Los Angeles, where she and Floyd continued their careers.
Edythe Turnham and Her Knights of Syncopation, courtesy Black Heritage Society of Washington State.
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Evelyn Williamson with Lionel Hampton, photo by Al Smith, courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry.
That’s Evelyn Williamson (1910-1992?) singing in the lower photo, which you can tell was taken at Seattle’s Trianon Ballroom because of the venue’s signature sound-reinforcing “shell” above the band. Williams is shown performing with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, in 1940, the year she recorded “I Nearly Lost My Mind” with Hamp. It must have been an exciting homecoming for Williamson, who was raised in Seattle by her sister, Elbe, and Elbee’s husband, the prominent jazz club and hotel owner Russell “Noodles” Smith. Williamson got her start in show business in the late ‘20s, singing for Seattle club operator John “Doc” Hamilton. She also worked with pianist Oscar Holden and was a regular at the Ubangi, a night club inside the Golden West Hotel (see below). Williamson later moved to Los Angeles, where she married the great Count Basie alto saxophonist Marshal Royal.
On the east side of the box, at the top, another photo of Patti Bown and down below is Zelma Winslow (1900?-1942), who sometimes worked at the Ubangi as well as a private room upstairs at the Chinese Garden (Stop #13). “She could sing like nobody’s business,” recalled Bruce Rowell, who helped “Noodles” run the Ubangi. Famous for her torch songs and blues, Winslow had a long and tempestuous affair with Smith, whom she eventually married, and was notorious for having slugged a police officer during a raid at the Black and Tan.
Zelma Winslow, courtesy
of the Black Heritage Society
of Washington State
GOLDEN WEST HOTEL
Look across the street, kitty corner, at the brick building next to the construction site on the corner. On the wall facing north you can just make out a "ghost sign" that says "Golden West Hotel." Many of Seattle’s jazz women performed at the Ubangi, one of several clubs that flourished in the 1920s and ‘30s in the Golden West. The hotel was operated from 1920-27 by Russell “Noodles” Smith, who also ran the Coast Hotel with his first wife, Elbe, until they split up and she took over. Both establishments welcomed people of color, who were barred from downtown hotels. The Golden West was variously listed at 410, 416, 417 and 418 Seventh Ave. S.. Pianist Palmer Johnson recalled playing in 1929 at “a joint up on the fourth or fifth floor of the Golden West Hotel” managed by vocalist Lillian Goode’s husband. In June 1934, a year after beer (but not hard liquor) was legalized for sale in Washington taverns by the Steele Act, Smith’s sometime business partner Louis Todd moved the Little Harlem Club from the Coast Hotel to the Golden West, renaming it the Little Harlem Beer Tavern. The club became a sparkling social center for the Black community. Situated in a large room with a stage wide and deep enough to accommodate a floor show and chorus girls, the Little Harlem featured an in-house group, the Little Harlem Band (players unknown) and in 1935 presented the fledging Lionel Hampton band, from Los Angeles, on the Leschi ferry.
The Northwest Enterprise, June 12, 1936, announces the opening of the Ubangi, formerly the Golden West. Note the large decorated stage.
The Golden West Hotel is the building on the left, with a marquee in front, not the building with “GOLDEN WEST HOTEL” written on the edge of the roof. Over the years, the Golden West hosted three jazz clubs: the Golden West, the Little Harlem and the Ubangi. (Source: Bicentennial Oral History Program, Black Project, 1975-1976, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, digitalarchives.wa.gov, accessed September 30, 2024)
Ad, The Northwest Enterprise, June 28, 1934.
Ad, The Seattle Times, ad June 4, 1936.
The Little Harlem wound down at the end of 1935, but in June 1936, Noodles reopened the venue as an even fancier place with potted palms and occasional national acts, even spending money to advertise the entertainers in The Seattle Times. Called the Ubangi, the posh new venue kicked off with Los Angeles band leader Les Hite, along with New York vaudeville dancers Williams and Williams. College grads were among the folks who celebrated at the Ubangi, dancing to the music of Gene Coy (who earlier had whisked Seattle saxophonist Dick Wilson off to Texas) and vocalists Eddie Rucker, Zelma Winslow and Evelyn Williamson (who later joined Hampton). The chorus line was a regular item in The Northwest Enterprise, which on July 19, 1937, reported: “The Ubangi patrons get quite a kick out of Junior Raglin when he picks up his dog house (string bass) and trucks on down with those swing numbers. Our scout tells us the floor show is veddy veddy good this week. Marking an all-time high in a string of good shows.”
Bruce Rowell, man about town and sometime alto saxophonist, helped Noodles run the Ubangi and was also responsible for managing the Ubangi Blackhawks, a football team mounted by the club. Alas, all good things come to an end. In February 1939, the Golden West Hotel was sold and the Ubangi closed. But it went out with a bang, bringing Hite back for a return, farewell engagement. The Northwest Enterprise lamented the loss of the club as a major source of Black employment on the West Coast.
Ad, The Northwest Enterprise, July 2, 1937.
The Golden West Hotel, 2024.
The 410 address is on the left.