Baker's Keyboard Lounge

In 1933 Chris and Fannie Baker opened Baker's as a lunchtime sandwich restaurant. In 1934 their son Clarence Baker began booking jazz pianists, but Baker's was still known at that time principally as a restaurant.[https://books.google.com/books?id=K11GJ-xaEcoC&pg=PA117 Bjorn, Lars & Gallert, Jim Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit] University of Michigan Press, 2001 {{ISBN|978-0-472-06765-7}} p 117 In 1939 Clarence took over ownership after Chris had suffered from a stroke. That same year, Clarence began booking pianists from outside the Detroit area, although the club featured local pianist Pat Flowers from 1940 until 1954. In 1952, the club was expanded and remodeled to the Art Deco look that it retains today. By 1954, the business had rapidly expanded, and by the following year, Baker's began featuring major jazz acts, notably Art Tatum who played the last two years of his life, Dave Brubeck in 1957 and Gerry Mulligan in 1958. During the 1950s "modern" jazz was less common at Baker's than it was in the 1960s, when the emphasis of the club's music changed to Hard Bop. During the 1960s Clarence leased the club out, but resumed personal control in the 1970s.

Baker's is noted for its long history of presenting local and major jazz acts, its excellent acoustics, its intimacy – seating only 99, its Art Deco furnishings, including a distinctive, piano-shaped bar painted with a keyboard motif, Art Deco style paintings of European city landscapes by Harry Julian Carew, tilted mirrors that allow patrons to view the pianist's hands, and its Steinway piano which was selected and purchased in New York by Tatum for Clarence in the 1950s. The club still displays its original liquor pricelist from 1934, showing the price of beer at 26 cents.[http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=C4&Dato=20110131&Kategori=ENT&Lopenr=101310806&Ref=PH "Baker's Keyboard Lounge through the years", Detroit Free Press (Photo 15)]

In 1986, Baker's was designated as an Historic Site by the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office. The historic significance of the site is stated as follows:

{{blockquote|Baker's Keyboard Lounge has significance as Michigan's jazz mecca and Detroit's oldest jazz club in continuous operation. Founded in May 1933 by Chris Baker as a restaurant and piano bar, the present jazz orientation of the club has been firmly in place since 1939. Baker's Keyboard Lounge has hosted the greatest names in blues and jazz since that date. Some of the musicians who have played the club include: Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Sarah Vaughn, Joe Williams, Maynard Ferguson, Cab Calloway, Woody Herman, Modern Jazz Quartet, and Nat "King" Cole; to name but a few. In 1984, Baker's Keyboard Lounge celebrated fifty-years of the sound of jazz in Detroit and Michigan.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/15217.htm |title="Baker's Keyboard Lounge", Michigan State Historic Preservation Office |access-date=2011-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528152700/http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/15217.htm |archive-date=2012-05-28 |url-status=dead }}}}

The popularity of the club declined in the 1970s and 1980s, and was nearly closed on several occasions. In 1996, after owning the club for 57 years, Clarence Baker sold the club to John Colbert and Juanita Jackson. The new owners were challenged by declining interests in live jazz performances, due to the aging of the fanbase of jazz purists, a shift to mainstream jazz from the historic Hard Bop emphasis of the club, and the popularity of hip hop. The new ownership attempted to compensate with fundraisers, a reduction in bookings of nationally known acts and emphasis on local artists, and diversifying the lineup to include R&B and comedy acts.[http://michigancitizen.com/bakers-keyboard-lounge-faces-bankruptcy-sale-uncertainty-p9384-1.htm Senghor, Shaka, "Baker's Keyboard Lounge faces bankruptcy, uncertainty", The Michigan Citizen] The club experienced a resurgence in popularity, but the downturn in the economy led Colbert to declare bankruptcy in 2010, leading to widespread speculation that the club would finally close. In 2011, the club was purchased at a bankruptcy sale, by Hugh W. Smith III, who had been manager of the club for the previous two years and Eric Whitaker Sr. Smith and Whitaker vowed to keep Baker's open as a jazz club.[http://detnews.com/article/20110201/ENT05/102010305/1422/ENT05/New-owners-vow-to-keep-Baker%E2%80%99s-music-alive Whitall, Susan, "New owners vow to keep Baker's music alive", Detroit News (February 1, 2011)][http://www.freep.com/article/20110131/NEWS01/110131020/1003/New-owners-rescue-Baker-s-Keyboard-Lounge Stryker, Mark, "New owners rescue Baker's Keyboard Lounge - and fulfill a dream, Detroit Free Press (January 31, 2011)]

In 2016, The Detroit City Council approved an ordinance to establish the Baker's Keyboard Lounge Historic District, a designation that prevents whoever owns the building from demolishing it or altering its exterior without permission from the Detroit Historic District Commission.[https://www.freep.com/story/news/2016/03/15/bakers-keyboard-lounge-granted-historic-designation/81817092/ Guillen, Joe, "Baker's Keyboard Lounge granted historic designation", Detroit Free Press (March 15, 2016)]

With the economic and cultural resurgence of Detroit, Baker's is again receiving notable media coverage.[https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/jan/28/detroit-michigan-motown-city-new-bars-live-music Millar, Aaron, "Dazzled by Detroit: how Motown got its groove back", The Guardian (January 28, 2018)]

File:Ella Fitzgerald 1968.jpg

Many famous musicians, especially jazz musicians, have played in the club during its history, such as Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Fats Waller, Wes Montgomery,{{Cite web|url=https://jazzguitartoday.com/2018/12/the-year-was-1968-by-marc-silver/|title = 50 Years Ago…The Year Was 1968}} Meade Lux, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, Pat Flowers, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Tommy Flanagan, George Shearing, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Cab Calloway, Betty Carter, Eddie Jefferson, Kai Winding, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, Barry Harris, Donald Byrd, Earl Klugh, Pepper Adams, and Miles Davis have all performed at the club. Gene Krupa performed with his Quartet for several engagements at Baker's.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YAsEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Baker%27s+Keyboard+Lounge%22&pg=PA14 "Talent on tour", Billboard (September 28, 1963) p 15]

Terry Pollard was discovered by Terry Gibbs while playing at Baker's in 1952–53, subsequently joining the Terry Gibbs Quartet for a national tour.[http://jazztimes.com/articles/25540-jazz-pianist-terry-pollard-dies-at-78 Everett, Aubrey, "Jazz Pianist Terry Pollard dies at 78", Jazz Times (December 22, 2009)]

Baker's is the site of an incident in 1954 involving Miles Davis which is credited by some for Davis breaking his heroin addiction. The widely related version of the story, attributed to Richard (Prophet) Jennings[https://books.google.com/books?id=GyvbN5PqVCAC&dq=Miles+Davis+Baker%27s+Keyboard+Lounge&pg=PA74 Crawford, Mark, "Miles Davis: Evil genius of jazz", Ebony (January 1961) pp.69-74][https://books.google.com/books?id=_-MMx7OGSrQC&pg=PA88 Neisenson, Eric, Round About Midnight: A Portrait of Miles Davis] Da Capo Press, 1996 {{ISBN|978-0-306-80684-1}} pp 88-89 is that Davis, while in Detroit playing at the Blue Bird club (as a guest soloist in Billy Mitchell's house band along with Flanagan, Elvin Jones, Carter, Yusef Lateef, Barry Harris, Thad Jones, Curtis Fuller and Donald Byrd) stumbled into Baker's out of the rain, soaking wet and carrying his trumpet in a paper bag under his coat, walked to the bandstand and interrupted Max Roach and Clifford Brown in the midst of performing "Sweet Georgia Brown" by beginning to play "My Funny Valentine", and then, after finishing the song, stumbled back into the rainy night. Davis was supposedly embarrassed into getting clean by this incident. In his autobiography, Davis disputed this account, stating that Roach had requested that Davis play with him that night, and that the details of the incident, such as carrying his horn in a paper bag and interrupting Roach and Brown, were fictional and that his decision to quit heroin was unrelated to the incident.[https://books.google.com/books?id=xgAVXHhuNYgC&pg=PA173 Davis, Miles and Troup, Quincy, Miles, the Autobiography], Simon and Schuster, 1990 {{ISBN|978-0-671-72582-2}} pp 173-174

Then-unknown Barbra Streisand performed at Baker's in 1961.[https://books.google.com/books?id=EQZpQ_K8yIQC&pg=PA113 Popple, Robert, John Arpin: Keyboard Virtuoso] Dundurn Press Ltd., 2009 {{ISBN|978-1-55002-866-9}} p113

Charles Mingus's September 1969 performances at Baker's were a part of his comeback in that year.[https://books.google.com/books?id=qdWqrp9z5isC&pg=PA281 Santoro, Gene, Myself When I am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus] Oxford University Press US, 2001 {{ISBN|978-0-19-514711-7}} p281

Klugh credits his frequenting Baker's as a teenager in the early 1970s, chaperoned by his mother, as a significant factor in the development of his music career, enabling him to meet prominent artists who were playing there, such as George Benson, Chick Corea and Lateef, each of whom he then toured or recorded with, and Bill Evans who was a central influence on Klugh's songwriting.[http://jazztimes.com/guides/artists/1931-earl-klugh "Earl Klugh", Jazz Times]

Jazz singer Eddie Jefferson was shot and killed at Baker's Keyboard Lounge on May 8, 1979. He had left the club with alto sax man Richie Cole around 1:35 a.m. and was shot while walking out of the building.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CBBPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hAIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7038,6336581&hl=en "Suspect arrested in slaying of jazz vocalist in Detroit", Associated Press reprinted Toledo Blade (May 10, 1979)]

Father Tom Vaughan recorded the 1967 RCA Victor album Motor City Soul at Baker's.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BZMoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mFoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2968,4182639&dq=baker's-keyboard-lounge&hl=en Ober, Chick "New Records, Tapes"], St. Petersburg Times (December 28, 1967).

Woody Shaw recorded his posthumously released 1997 album Bemsha Swing for Blue Note at Baker's in 1986, along with Geri Allen, Robert Hurst and Roy Brooks.[http://jazztimes.com/articles/19789-roy-brooks-hard-bop-hard-time Dulzo, Jim, "Roy Brooks: Hard Bob, hard time"], Jazz Times (October 2002).[http://jazztimes.com/articles/10051-bemsha-swing-woody-shaw Shoemaker, Bill, "Jazz Reviews: Bemsha Swing"], Jazz Times (December 1997).

In 1987, Anita Baker filmed the music video for the track "Same Ole Love" from her album Rapture at Baker's.[https://books.google.com/books?id=EbQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Baker%27s+Keyboard%22&pg=PA53 "People are talking about..."], Jet (April 6, 1987), p. 53.

Saxophonist James Carter recorded the album Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge, also featuring David Murray, Franz Jackson and Johnny Griffin at Baker's in June 2001.[http://jazztimes.com/articles/14741-live-at-baker-s-keyboard-lounge-james-carter Kelsey, Chris, "Jazz Reviews: Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge"], Jazz Times (June 2004).

Baker's piano-shaped bar inspired Liberace to install his famous piano-shaped swimming pool at his home in Beverly Hills.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ub99o7hy08QC&pg=PA307 Bird, Christianne, DeCapo Jazz and Blues Lover's Guide to the U.S.] Da Capo Press, 2001 {{ISBN|978-0-306-81034-3}} p. 307

The 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown includes film of a performance by the Funk Brothers at Baker's.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZKMpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=P-wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4882,6311988&dq=baker's-keyboard-lounge+film&hl=en Schuster, Fred, "Studio musicians emerge from Motown"], Los Angeles Daily News reprinted Gainesville Sun (November 24, 2002), p 1D

Kenny Dixon Jr.'s 2004 album Black Mahogani includes the track "Back at Bakers (on Livernois)"[http://www.discogs.com/Moodymann-Black-Mahogani/master/6257 "Moodymann - Black Mahogani" ''Discogs]

Baker's is the setting for a performance by one of the principal characters in Cheryl Robinson's 2005 novel If It Ain't One Thing.[https://books.google.com/books?id=_dCqW3vULDkC&pg=PA25 Robinson, Cheryl, If It Ain't One Thing] Penguin, 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-451-21405-8}} p25ff

Baker's is the scene of a chapter in E.M. Broner's 2010 novel, The Red Squad.[https://books.google.com/books?id=x2HZCx6Y2kcC&pg=PA19 Bronner, E.M. and Bronner, Esther, The Red Squad] Random House, Inc., 2010 9780307455840 p 19ff

Baker's is referenced on the ABC police procedural drama Detroit 1-8-7.[http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/detroit/index.ssf/2010/12/detroit_1-8-7_season_1_episode_16.html Foley, Aaron, "'Detroit 1-8-7' Season 1, Episode 9 recap: A return to bad form, and the Boston-Edison drinking game", MLive.com (December 1, 2010)]

Baker's is mentioned by the Catherine O'Hara character Dusty Towne in a skit called "The Dusty Towne Sexy Holiday Special" on SCTV. She introduces Andrea Martin, playing a Solid Gold Dancer, as her first guest saying, "You know, the special thing about her is that I used to work with her mother at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit."[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liOtOSR_Pp0 The Dusty Towne Sexy Holiday Special, SCTV Channel]

Baker's is featured in a scene in the 2012 film Sparkle.[http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/detroit/index.ssf/2012/09/bakers_keyboard_lounge_hosts_s.html Lacy, Eric, "Baker's Keyboard Lounge hosts grand re-opening events to honor historic jazz venue" MLive.com (September 5, 2012)]

• List of jazz clubs

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130719060608/http://theofficialbakerskeyboardlounge.com/ Official Website in 2013]
• [http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=C4&Dato=20110131&Kategori=ENT&Lopenr=101310806&Ref=PH Photo Slideshow "Baker's Keyboard Lounge through the years", Detroit Free Press]

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Category:Culture of Detroit

Category:Buildings and structures in Detroit

Category:History of Detroit

Category:Restaurants in Detroit

Category:Music venues in Michigan

Category:Jazz clubs in the United States

Category:Nightclubs in the United States

Category:Tourist attractions in Detroit

Category:Music venues completed in 1934

Category:Restaurants established in 1933

Category:1934 establishments in Michigan