Board of Directors
JazzBoston’s leaders come from all over Greater Boston’s jazz community. We are musicians, educators, presenters, arts administrators, journalists, consultants, business executives and civic activists. We share a love for the creative, improvisational music called jazz and a belief in the power of jazz to be a force for good in our society.
Ken FieldPresident
Photo credit: Robert Torres
Composer and musician; Leader of Revolutionary Snake Ensemble; Member of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic; Musical contributor to Sesame Street; Host of WMBR Radio’s “The New Edge”; President of Board of Directors of Tutoring Plus of Cambridge; Member of HONK! Festival Organizing Committee; Former member & chair of Cambridge Bicycle Committee.
Bobby TynesVice President
Born and raised in Cambridge MA, Bobby has been a saxophonist since childhood. He is an accomplished musician/songwriter, graduate of Berklee College of Music, and an educator who serves as the Assistant Principal of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Bobby has performed throughout the U.S. and internationally alongside a variety of world class musicians.
Larry CroninTreasurer
Co-Founder and COO of Boston Based Senior Care Organization, Long Term Student of Jazz and Rock History, as well as the Boston Music Scene, Long Term Advocate, Community Organizer, and Experienced Board Contributor.
Fred WoodardClerk
Fred Woodard is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and a long time member of the Boston jazz community. He has lead groups of various sizes since 1988. He has recorded 3 CDs as leader, “Arrival”, “1715” and “Urban Garden” on his Ujam record label. In addition to performing and recording Fred is the founder and primary organizer of “Dudley Jazz Festival” which has been held on an annual basis since 2016. Fred has also been a guitar instructor at The Roland Hayes School of Music since 1994.
Parris Battle
Parris C. Battle, originally from NYC, first moved to Boston to attend Boston College and co-founded the AHANA philosophy at BC. A former teacher at Rindge and Latin HS in Cambridge, and a teacher & quasi-administrator in Miami Dade Public Schools, he was appointed by President George Bush to serve on the National Assessment Governing Board, where he worked to improve the quality of American education. Parris worked with the United Teachers of Dade both as a steward and later as a Lead Steward to advocate for teachers’ rights and safe working conditions. He led an initiative to upgrade and modernize 13 Inner City Schools in Miami Dade with high-speed internet access and a computer-driven curriculum. He previously served as a teacher trainer and leader in the School-Based Management movement. This transformative pedagogy involved running a school from the bottom up and not the top down.
In 2017 he returned to Boston after a career in technology with various industry leaders such as Avaya. He is currently serving as a Director with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department.
“I have always been an avid jazz fan and supporter of the genre. I’m a father of three, grandfather of two, and a proud AHANA graduate of Boston College and of FIU.”
Paul Burega
Customer Success professional with expertise in computer technology: networking; security; tech support; and cloud. Passionate volunteer in several arts organizations. Photographer, quilter, stamp collector & exhibitor, and live music enthusiast.
Dr. William Goldberg
Dr. William Goldberg, MD is a Internal Medicine Specialist in Brookline, MA and has over 33 years of experience in the medical field. He graduated from Georgia Regents U, Medical College medical school in 1989. He is an avid jazz fan, and served as a jazz radio host on WKCR-FM, New York City, during the 1970s.
Gregory Groover Jr.
Raised with devotion for music, Gregory George Groover Jr is a tenor saxophonist and educator from Roxbury, Massachusetts. His love and pursuit of music directed him to the Boston Arts Academy where he graduated in 2011 as the Elma Lewis Graduate With Distinction and with the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. He received both his Bachelors and Masters in Music Performance Studies from Berklee College of Music.
Gregory has performed in music festivals in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. He serves as the Chair of Music at his alma mater, the Boston Arts Academy, where he provides instruction in Jazz studies to the next generation of artists and scholars.
Bonnie Johnson
Bonnie Johnson is producer and host of Colors of Jazz, a weekly program that bridges the Boston Jazz scene from NPR affiliate WICN where she also serves as Underwriting Account Executive. Inspired by arts and culture, youth, and literacy, Bonnie is committed to engaging with people of all ages. Her professional career has been in the forefront of business intelligence and technology. She is presently a senior program consultant at CLEAResult, Inc., helping “change the way people use energy”. Her contribution of time to various boards, serving local and regional institutions, has involved team building, decision-making, and strategic planning with a focus on development. Bonnie’s growth as a leader and mentor has been broadened by her collaborative reach into the community, especially through music.
Braden (Brooks) Justice
Braden (Brooks) Justice is an accountant and amateur vocalist with a passion for jazz and R&B. In his free time he studies piano and singing, attends concerts, and cooks. He’s excited to continue to advocate for jazz culture in the community and offer his expertise where needed to advance the mission of JazzBoston.
Noah Preminger
Of Boston-based saxophonist Noah Preminger, The New York Times declares: “Mr. Preminger designs a different kind of sound for each note, an individual destiny and story.” Preminger, just 36 and two-time winner of Downbeat Magazine’s Rising Star Best Tenor Saxophonist, has recorded over twenty critically acclaimed albums as a band-leader. Preminger released his debut album, Dry Bridge Road, just after his 21st birthday and was named Debut of the Year in the Village Voice Critics Poll and was nominated by the Jazz Journalists Association as that year’s best new jazz artist. The saxophonist has performed on key stages from the United States to Europe and Asia to Australia, and he has played and/or recorded with the likes of Jason Moran, Dave Holland, John Patitucci, Fred Hersch, Jeff Tain Watts, Dave Douglas, Billy Hart, Rob Garcia, Joe Lovano, Victor Lewis, John and Bucky Pizzarelli, Cecil McBee, George Cables, and Roscoe Mitchell. Preminger has contributed music to a major motion picture, was awarded a Fellowship to compose music at Banff Centre’s Leighton Artists Studio, and has his own radio program since 2018 on NPR-affiliate 90.5 WICN on Wednesday evenings. Preminger is currently on faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA. and The New School in NYC.
Kenrick Tsang
Kenrick Tsang is a jazz pianist, artist, and martial artist. He has been a longtime participant of many cultural events in the Boston Chinatown community, and is now an enthusiastic volunteer and member of JazzBoston. His hobbies and interests also include music production, concept art, and lion dancing.
Advisory Council
Bonnie JohnsonChair, JazzBoston Advisory Council
Bonnie Johnson is producer and host of Colors of Jazz, a weekly program that bridges the Boston Jazz scene from NPR affiliate WICN where she also serves as Underwriting Account Executive. Inspired by arts and culture, youth, and literacy, Bonnie is committed to engaging with people of all ages. Her professional career has been in the forefront of business intelligence and technology. She is presently a senior program consultant at CLEAResult, Inc., helping “change the way people use energy”. Her contribution of time to various boards, serving local and regional institutions, has involved team building, decision-making, and strategic planning with a focus on development. Bonnie’s growth as a leader and mentor has been broadened by her collaborative reach into the community, especially through music.
Rob Battles
Rob Battles, of New York City, spent his first 25 years in and around Boston, and produced jazz radio programs at WBUR from 1972-79, including live broadcasts from The Jazz Workshop and Paul’s Mall, The Copley Plaza Merry-Go-Round and other music venues, and myriad live broadcasts from the station’s Studio B. He wrote as well for The Boston Phoenix, The Real Paper and other periodicals. He once mixed a live broadcast of the Charles Mingus group while sitting eight feet from Danny Richmond’s drum kit.
His career in media promotion includes stints at ABC, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Kingworld, and AMC Networks, as well as a decade at his own agency, Crossroads Television, which created campaigns for Disney, ESPN, Food Network, CNBC, CBS, and various TV stations and production companies. He filmed a garbage truck being driven off a cliff for the tabloid news program A Current Affair. One morning, Regis Philbin talked about him on The Morning Show.
Currently a writer and consultant, Battles takes advantage of the jazz scene in New York, occasionally accompanied by one of his adult daughters, and sometimes his wife. He is currently conducting research to determine if he is, in fact, the luckiest person alive.
Steven Branson
Steven A. Branson is an attorney and the founder of Steven A. Branson, Esq. dba Financial Strategies, his law firm in Weymouth. Steven’s education includes: Harvard Law School, UMass/Boston, Berklee College of Music and University of CO. When not doing legal work or training for the Pan-Mass Challenge to raise money for cancer research, care and treatment, he writes music for and plays in his jazz band. His current band is The Steve Branson Trio +1; before that, he was in Bitches Brew Band.
Jamme Chantler
Jamme Chantler is the proprietor of The Mad Monkfish and long-time lover of vocal and instrumental jazz. His aim is to bring the best jazz talent possible to his venue at minimal cost to diners. Though he books some prominent jazz artists, his focus is to bring light to local geniuses of the art! In addition, he and his music director, Scott Goulding—one third of Yoko Miwa Trio—are dedicated to music education and work in conjunction with The Cambridge Jazz Festival and Jazz Boston to achieve that end.
Mary Curtin
For the past several decades, Mary Curtin, a native of the Boston-area, has been an energetic and effective behind-the-scenes collaborator, focusing primarily, but not exclusively, on the production of art-related events. These events, large to small, have covered a wide range of artistic disciplines, oftentimes combined with academic, civic, community, or individual artist’s endeavors. Due to this cross-disciplinary approach, she has cultivated almost a sixth sense when it comes to tackling event production concerns. Her personal artistic performance history has been in experimental/socio-political theater, which in many ways has helped her to foster a deep appreciation for the jazz art form in particular. Although not a musician herself, at least not in the true sense of the word, she does enjoy generating sounds with the Dirty Water Brass Band.
Ron Della Chiesa
While a student at Boston University’s School of Communication, Quincy native Ron Della Chiesa landed his first radio job at WBOS; hired by Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsberg, to host a series of ethnic radio shows, including the Italian Melody Hour, the Polish Variety Hour, Music of the Near East, the Boston Greek Hour, and the Irish Hour.
After a stint in the US Army, Ron joined classical music station WBCN, eventually becoming Program Director. When WBCN changed to Rock-n-Roll format, he moved to WGBH-FM, a relationship that continued for many years – hosting the popular MusicAmerica show more than 18 years, where he interviewed great musical artists including: Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, Stan Getz, Dave McKenna, Wynton Marsalis, John Williams, Rosemary Clooney, etc.
Ron is a Boston University Distinguished Alumnus. He is also a winner of the 2010 Ovation Award from Opera Boston, the annual Public Auction for the Arts, Man of the Year Award in 2003, and the National Jazz Educators of MA award for his efforts to bring Jazz and American Music to audiences in New England. To celebrate his 50 years in radio, he recently wrote “Radio My Way” with co-author Erica Ferencik. The book includes celebrity profiles from Jazz, Opera, and the American Song Book.
Greg Fitzgerald
Greg Fitzgerald got hooked on Jazz after hearing Monk’s Straight No Chaser LP in college. As a public radio producer and journalist, he has hosted jazz programming on WGBH and has produced live concert programming and jazz documentaries including his stint as Senior Editor and Producer for NPR’s Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson. For that program he was also the interviewer, writer, and producer for profiles on Ahmad Jamal, Tony Bennett, Toots Thielemans, and Gene Ammons, as well as the history of the Newport Jazz Festival and the history of Blue Note records. He was Associated Director for the White House Jazz Festival in 1978 and the Kool Jazz Festival in New York in 1979. He was also the producer and fill-in host for WGBH’s Music America.
As a journalist in public radio and television he was a local host for Morning Edition and All Things Considered on WGBH and WBUR, as well as a television reporter for The Ten O’clock News with Christopher Lydon. He was also part of the team that launched New Hampshire’s first public radio station – New Hampshire Public Radio. He is currently the Communications Manager for the Christian Science Monitor.
Donal Fox
Photo credit: Lou Jones
Donal Fox is internationally acclaimed as composer, pianist, and improviser in both jazz and classical music. His numerous awards include a Guggenheim fellowship in music composition and a fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation. He served as the first African-American composer-in-residence with the St. Louis Symphony and was a visiting artist at Harvard University, where he received a Certificate of Recognition from the President of Harvard College for his contribution to the arts. Mr. Fox premiered his Monk and Bach Project at Jazz at Lincoln Center, his Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project at Tanglewood, and the world premiere of his piano concerto Peace Out for Improvised Piano and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence at Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus (Germany), Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Ireland), Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Liguria Study Center (Italy), Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, among others. Donal Fox, a Steinway Artist, has performed and recorded with many artists including Oliver Lake, David Murray, John Stubblefield, Elliott Sharp, Regina Carter, Dafnis Prieto, George Mraz, Al Foster, Stefon Harris, Christian Scott, Warren Wolf, Terri Lyne Carrington, Maya Beiser, Hilary Hahn, and poet Quincy Troupe, among others.
Carolyn (Cj) KelleyJazzBoston Enriched Life Director
Born into a jazz-loving family
Produced first concert sophomore year in high school
Produced hundreds since then
Worked as Jazz Manager at NE Foundation for the Arts
Former – Director of Boston’s Jazz Coalition
Former – Chair of JazzBoston’s Advisory Council
Current – Event Producer for JazzBoston
Marla Kleman
Like two of her favorite musicians, Sarah Vaughan and Wayne Shorter, Marla was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her first exposure to jazz was at home at a very young age, listening to her Father’s jazz recordings of Charlie Parker, Jazz at the Philharmonic and Benny Goodman. Marla’s lifetime love of jazz really began the first time she heard the Buddy Rich Big Band in New Jersey at the age of 12. For two years, Marla had a radio show, “Jazz Straight Ahead,” for a Carmel, California based radio station, KRML. In addition to spending as much time as possible listening to jazz from her own collection and the radio, Marla spends a great deal of time researching the history of all of the historical jazz clubs throughout the U.S. She is also the Box Office Manager at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, where she enjoys the good fortune of “hanging” in the club as much as possible, listening to the best of the local and out of town jazz greats.
Tom Laskey
A forty year veteran of the recording industry, Tom started life as a classical musician and graduated from New England Conservatory of Music. Tom has worked for PolyGram Records (now part of Universal Music), Warner Audio Publishing and, since 1991, Sony Music. He is currently Senior Director, Commerce at Sony Music Masterworks, a division of Sony Music that encompasses classical music, jazz, alternative, Broadway and various other genres.
Douglas Martin, Esq.
Douglas Martin is Managing Partner at the Law Office of Douglas Martin, P.C., Boston. With an extensive legal career spanning over 30 years, he has held pivotal roles in both the government and private sector. He has held positions at the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Marquette University, the Governor’s Office of Wisconsin, Massachusetts Appeals Court, Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, and McKenzie and Associates, P.C.
Mr. Martin served as an instructor at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop for six years. He has earned commendation letters from former United States Attorney General Janet Reno and President Bill Clinton for his development of the Model Drug Victim Initiative Program.
Mr. Martin serves as a Trustee for the Massachusetts School of Law, and was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court Committee on Judicial Evaluations by former Chief Justice Robert Mulligan, contributing to the assessment of judges’ fairness, biases, and issues related to racism and sexism. Governor Deval Patrick appointed him to the Federal Judicial Magistrate Nominating Committee. In addition, Mr. Martin served on the Diversity Hiring Committee as a member of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, working on innovative hiring practices. His past roles also include the presidency of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, and membership on the Executive Board for the Milwaukee Violence Prevention Coalition.
Shelley Neill
Shelley Neill served as Executive Director of the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MA for over twenty years, leaving behind a legacy of outstanding music, dance and theater events, programs, and performances. They included: the Arts & Dialogues on Race Series, the Arts & Community Dialogues Series, and Cambridge: Our Town – Our Stories. The latter examined the impact of Covid-19 during the first 6 months of the pandemic. All three addressed issues of social and political importance. She curated hundreds of gallery exhibitions during her tenure, often connecting gallery exhibitions with performing arts events. Beginning in 2008 (after the closure of the Real Deal Jazz Club & Cafe, which she brought to the Multicultural Arts Center in 2004, and which featured artists such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Dave Holland, and Danilo Perez) she organized, curated, and hosted the annual Cambridge Arts River Festival’s Jazz, Blues, and R & B Music Stage. She also produced the annual community event Joyful Noise with the Harlem Gospel Choir at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater, which celebrated the life and work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In her last year at the Arts Center, she served as Producer/Creative Director of the 2021 Virtual Cambridge Arts River Festival, featuring Kevin Harris, Rebecca Cline, Yoko Miwa, Bob Toabe, and Tim Ray in a series of solo piano concerts. In July of 2021 she produced Tim Ray, Terri Lyne Carrington, and John Lockwood at Starlight Square in Cambridge for the first outdoor sold-out jazz concert held since the start of the pandemic. She is a jazz vocalist who has produced six recorded music projects, working with Laszlo Gardony on piano, Yoron Israel on drums, and Ron Mahdi on bass; all of whom are members of the faculty at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Shelley also performed with them at venues and festivals including the RegattaBar and Scullers. Her music website is www.cobaltbluemusic.org
Guillermo Nojechowicz
Photo credit: Cora Surraco
Argentinian drummer, composer, and educator Guillermo Nojechowicz grew up in Buenos Aires, surrounded by Astor Piazzolla’s tango ,Luis Alberto Spinetta’s rock songs and Oscar Peterson’s jazz. He recorded for CBS with rock group Rayuela while attending the National Conservatory of Music Lopez Buchardo in Argentina. As a Fulbright scholar Nojechowicz attended Berklee College of Music, where his mentors included Herb Pomeroy, Billy Pierce, and Andy McGhee, graduating with a degree in Film Scoring. His Master’s degree in Education is from American International College. His Brazilian-Argentinean jazz ensemble EL ECO has performed at Regattabar and Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, the Blue Note in NYC and Philadelphia Museum of Art. Festival performances include Telluride Jazz Celebration, Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in Saratoga Springs, Montreal Jazz Festival, Curação North Sea Jazz Festival, Buenos Aires Jazz Festival, and the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival. From 1987 to 1993, Nojechowicz was Artist-in-Residence at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, where he worked with film composer Elliot Goldenthal (Frida) and director Andrei Serban. Nojechowicz has taught at Berklee’s Five Week Summer Program since 2010 and at New England Conservatory. As faculty member at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School he created the school’s percussion program and first drumline, and the school’s acclaimed World Jazz Ensemble. He studied piano and composition with Herb Pomeroy and Charlie Banacos and drums with Alan Dawson, Duduka DaFonseca, Portinho, and Gary Chaffee in the US, and with Beatriz Tabares and Chiche Heger in Argentina.
Marco Pignataro
Marco Pignataro is a saxophone player, composer, and educator originally from Bologna, Italy. Together with Danilo Perez, Marco currently leads the Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI) at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has shared stages with artists such as Eddie Gomez, Joanne Brackeen, Danilo Pérez, George Garzone, John Patitucci, Kenny Werner, Luciana Souza, Rufus Reid, Kenwood Dennard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Antonio Sanchez, Ben Street, Brian Lynch, Billy Drummond, Billy Hart, Victor Lewis, Clark Terry, and Jon Faddis. Pignataro performs and tours internationally with several musical groups, including the Marco Pignataro Almas Antiguas Quartet and the Eddie Gomez Quintet, which is featured in the widely acclaimed recent CD Per Sempre (BFM Records). Pignataro’s CD, Sofia’s Heart, was also produced by jazz legend Eddie Gomez and features Pignataro’s compositions and arrangements. His column, “Style & Influence,” was regularly featured in the quarterly magazine Jazz Improv. Marco serves as the Artistic Director for the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival and as the Educational Adviser for the humanitarian foundation Fedujazz in DR, using music as a tool for social change. Pignataro is a D’Addario Woodwind Performing Artist and endorser for Applied Microphone Technology Wireless System, EGR Ligatures and for Mauriat and Lupifaro saxophones.
Ken Schaphorst
Ken Schaphorst is a composer, performer, and educator currently chairing the Jazz Studies Department at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Before moving to Boston in 2001, Schaphorst served as Director of Jazz Studies at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin for ten years. Schaphorst is also a founding member of the Jazz Composers Alliance, a Boston-based non-profit corporation promoting new music in the jazz idiom since 1985. Schaphorst studied at Swarthmore College, New England Conservatory of Music, and Boston University, where he received the Doctor of Musical Arts in 1990. Schaphorst was awarded Composition Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988 and 1991, the Wisconsin Arts Board in 1997, Meet the Composer Grants in 1987 and 1997, and was a Music Composition Finalist in the Massachusetts Fellowship Program in 1986. He won the Achievement Award for Jazz Education from Downbeat magazine in 2007. Schaphorst has released seven recordings as a leader: Ken Schaphorst Big Band: Making Lunch (1989), Ken Schaphorst Big Band: After Blue (1991), Ken Schaphorst Ensemble: When the Moon Jumps (1994), Ken Schaphorst: Over the Rainbow (1997), Ken Schaphorst Big Band: Purple (1999), Ken Schaphorst: Indigenous Technology (2002) and Ken Schaphorst Big Band: How to Say Goodbye (2015).
George Schuller
Photo credit: Rick Luettke
George Schuller (drummer, composer, arranger, producer, researcher, archivist) has released several albums as a leader including Listen Both Ways (Playscape), Life’s Little Dramas (Fresh Sound) and JigSaw (482 Music). He leads several groups including Circle Wide and The George Schuller Trio. Schuller appeared on Joe Lovano’s Rush Hour (Blue Note) and has also recorded and/or produced CD’s with Lee Konitz, Armen Donelian, Jason Robinson, Michael Musillami, Yard Byard, Russ Johnson, Mike Baggetta, Katie Bull, Bruce Gertz, Orange Then Blue, Ran Blake, Luciana Souza, Burton Greene, Mark Sowlakis, Conference Call, Peter Yarrow and Gunther Schuller. Between 2013-18, Schuller toured with Lee Konitz Quartet (legendary alto saxophonist) appearing at festivals, concert halls and clubs all over the US, Europe and the Far East. Since graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1982, he has performed with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Nnenna Freelon, Jaki Byard, Dave Douglas, George Adams, Fred Hersch, George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, Mose Allison, J Geils, among many others. He was also co-producer for the 2007 film documentary Music Inn, which was screened at the Tribeca, Berkshire, Galway, Munich & Prague Film Festivals. In 2018, Schuller produced a new film about the Modern Jazz Quartet: From Residency to Legacy including recent screenings at the Hudson Jazz Festival and New Mexico Jazz Festival 2019.
Michael Ullman
Educated at Harvard College and the University of Chicago before getting a PhD in English Language and Literature, Michael Ullman has been writing The Jazz Column in Fanfare Magazine for 27 years, where he also reviews classical music. He is the author of Jazz Lives and co-author of a history of jazz for Prentice Hall. In the past, he has written for The New Republic, the Atlantic Monthly, the Boston Globe and Boston Phoenix and dozens of other publications. His photographs of jazz musicians have appeared in five books. He has a double appointment in English and Music at Tufts University, where he teaches (among other subjects) courses on blues and jazz history.
Elynor Walcott
Elynor Walcott grew up as the daughter of the first African American to own a nightclub in New England. She currently runs that nightclub with his grandsons.
Joseph L. Walcott was a Barbadian who immigrated to America in 1910. “Wally” worked at running a taxi service where one of his customers was Boston mayor James Michael Curley. Mayor Curley helped Elynor’s dad get a liquor license and in 1947 he used his savings to start Wally’s Paradise in the South End of Boston.
Elynor learned the nightclub business from her father, and in addition to regularly presenting Boston artists, brought national acts to Boston, including Sarah Vaughn, Lena Horne, Coleman Hawkins, Oscar Peterson, and Red Garland. Just some of the legendary performers who played at Wally’s.
After Wally’s death in 1998 at age 101, his children took over the bar, and today Wally’s Cafe is still owned and managed by the Walcotts. It is the oldest jazz club in the United States to be maintained and held by one family.
Founding Directors Emeriti
Pauline BilskyJazzBoston Founding President 2005-2020
Independent communications consultant to top management of major for-profit and nonprofit corporations. Former Trustee, New York Foundation for the Arts; manager, Henry Threadgill, AACM composer and winner, 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music; Manager of Communications, McKinsey & Company, Inc., international management consultants.
Don Carlson
Project Leader, Economic Development, NAACP Boston; member, Steering Committee, Boston Jobs Coalition; member, Finance Committee, Roxbury Cultural District; former Vice President and Partner, Booz, Allen & Hamilton, international management consultants.
Mark Harvey
Trumpeter, composer, jazz community activist, minister, MIT jazz educator, founder/music director of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra.
Eric Jackson (1950-2022)
Widely considered the “Dean of Boston Jazz Radio”, Eric Jackson is one of public broadcasting’s most popular on-air personalities. In 2006 he received the National Jazz Journalists Association’s Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Excellence in Jazz Broadcasting. He was awarded Jazzweek’s Major Market Programmer of the Year in 2008. JazzBoston honored Jackson by presenting him with the 2011 Roy Haynes Award for exceptional contributions to jazz and the local jazz community. In 2012, Jackson received the 2012 Duke Dubois Humanitarian Award. Currently a member of the Northeastern University faculty, he has been recognized by the Massachusetts College of Art as one of the “100 most culturally influential Bostonians of the 20th century”.
José Massó
Massachusetts Broadcaster Hall of Fame inductee; host/producer, “!Con Salsa!” (WBUR 90.9 FM), Educator, Community Activist, Award-Winning Journalist.
Emmett G. Price III
Pianist/organist, composer/arranger, co-producer of Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, professor, pastor, WGBH radio/TV/online contributor.
Larry Simpson
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Berklee College of Music; Executive Producer, Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival; Chairman of the Board, New England Foundation for the Arts.
Counsel
Jason A. Mahler