Sylvia Levine talks with Allyson Paul, a waitress at Bradley's, Sweet Basil, Vanguard and Dizzy's Club Coca Cola
Hard core jazz fans and musicians who have spent serious time hanging out in New York jazz clubs know the people behind the scenes, who comprise an essential part of the jazz community, but who are neither musicians nor club owners. For more than twenty years, these unsung heroes have contributed to the ambience of the city’s legendary jazz rooms—and have served jazz—by communicating their own love and respect for the artists and the music as they perform their responsibilities—as bartender, waitress or doorman. It is time to document the stories of some of the people who helped us all feel at home. We dedicate this series to the memory of Gerry Houston, long-time waitress at the Village Vanguard, who died last year.
The subject of this week’s column is Allyson Paul, a waitress who has worked at Bradley’s, Sweet Basil, Village Vanguard and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York City. I spoke with her over the course of several meetings about her life in service of jazz. - Sylvia Levine Leitch.
Allyson Paul:
My first job in a jazz club was at Sweet Basil and I interviewed there because I thought it would be a good place to waitress, not because of the music. I’d been waitressing since I got out of school—I had a degree in Dance from the University of Maryland and came to New York after that, thinking maybe I’d get into dance therapy.
I remember when Phyllis (Mel and Phyllis Litoff were the owners at the time) interviewed me for the waitress job there—they did a lot of food service, brunches, dinners, as well as cocktails. She asked if I liked jazz music and I told her the truth—I just wasn’t too familiar with it. That was in 1982. I got the job anyway and I have worked in jazz rooms ever since. That was where I met Steve and Cho, of course, and we have been close since then—long after I stopped working there. A funny thing I found out later was that my first waitressing job, at a Chop Shop in College Park, Maryland, was at a place where Cho and his brother Chi worked too—before me. I met my guy Oliva there at Sweet Basil, too, but that was after I’d left.
Pharoah Sanders played at Sweet Basil sometimes and that was when I started to feel the power of jazz. His was the first music that really moved me. He played a solo and I remember feeling, “Whoa. What was that? He’s incredible.” That opened my ears and I started listening more to the sounds of different instruments. The Gil Evans Orchestra played at Sweet Basil pretty regularly and that band really was important to me in different ways: Hearing them night after night and getting to know them was great; all the musicians were so warm, smart and interesting! I became involved with George Adams for awhile.
Thinking back, he was late from time to time for his Sweet Basil gigs, and his chair would sit empty on the bandstand till he got there. Then Gil would say on the mike, “George has arrived” when he finally showed. It was funny the way he did that. Oliva and I recently rediscovered a tape of George’s—what an incredible, powerful saxophonist he was.
Sometimes after work or on days off I would go to other clubs to hear a favorite group or particular musician. I had become a real fan of the music and would watch the listings, at Sweet Basil and at the other clubs, to see who was up next, who to look forward to hearing. I didn’t even realize for quite a while that there was usually a professional courtesy extended to people like me who worked in one jazz club and went to another one to hear music and hang out. So I paid the cover wherever I went in the early days.
Russ Musto [number one New York jazz fan – SL] took me to Bradley’s the first time and that introduced me to the sound of the smaller group, of piano duos. I think by then I was ready to listen to that intense piano music and the interaction with the bass. Incredible piano players were there. Bradley had set up that room to have the feeling—the ambiance—of his living room and he treated the place as though that’s what it was.
He was a real larger-than-life character who loved the music and musicians, especially piano players, but everybody really. He was open late and it was a welcoming place, so musicians would come there after their gigs, already warmed up, and bring their horns, their instruments, and sit in. I figured that Bradley’s should be the next place for me to work.
The next four years I waitressed at Bradley’s. But for several months in between Sweet Basil and Bradley’s I was an assistant for Art Blakey. That was the summer of 1985. Of course I was a huge fan of the Messengers and I heard them a lot at Sweet Basil, and when I was out of work Art offered me a job. Most of the time I was in his home, helping his wife Ann with all kinds of things—from getting visas for the band members to chasing after their two very young children, Akira and Kenji.
I’d run errands while Ann looked after the kids or look after the kids while Ann ran errands, go to the airport with them, that kind of thing. Art was a really great person and people liked being around him. I did. He offered me that job when I needed it, promised to pay me every week and he paid me what he promised. Honestly, that was something!
Complete on >> http://jazztimes.com/sections/inservice/articles/26799-allyson-paul-waitress
The subject of this week’s column is Allyson Paul, a waitress who has worked at Bradley’s, Sweet Basil, Village Vanguard and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York City. I spoke with her over the course of several meetings about her life in service of jazz. - Sylvia Levine Leitch.
My first job in a jazz club was at Sweet Basil and I interviewed there because I thought it would be a good place to waitress, not because of the music. I’d been waitressing since I got out of school—I had a degree in Dance from the University of Maryland and came to New York after that, thinking maybe I’d get into dance therapy.
I remember when Phyllis (Mel and Phyllis Litoff were the owners at the time) interviewed me for the waitress job there—they did a lot of food service, brunches, dinners, as well as cocktails. She asked if I liked jazz music and I told her the truth—I just wasn’t too familiar with it. That was in 1982. I got the job anyway and I have worked in jazz rooms ever since. That was where I met Steve and Cho, of course, and we have been close since then—long after I stopped working there. A funny thing I found out later was that my first waitressing job, at a Chop Shop in College Park, Maryland, was at a place where Cho and his brother Chi worked too—before me. I met my guy Oliva there at Sweet Basil, too, but that was after I’d left.
Pharoah Sanders played at Sweet Basil sometimes and that was when I started to feel the power of jazz. His was the first music that really moved me. He played a solo and I remember feeling, “Whoa. What was that? He’s incredible.” That opened my ears and I started listening more to the sounds of different instruments. The Gil Evans Orchestra played at Sweet Basil pretty regularly and that band really was important to me in different ways: Hearing them night after night and getting to know them was great; all the musicians were so warm, smart and interesting! I became involved with George Adams for awhile.
Thinking back, he was late from time to time for his Sweet Basil gigs, and his chair would sit empty on the bandstand till he got there. Then Gil would say on the mike, “George has arrived” when he finally showed. It was funny the way he did that. Oliva and I recently rediscovered a tape of George’s—what an incredible, powerful saxophonist he was.
Sometimes after work or on days off I would go to other clubs to hear a favorite group or particular musician. I had become a real fan of the music and would watch the listings, at Sweet Basil and at the other clubs, to see who was up next, who to look forward to hearing. I didn’t even realize for quite a while that there was usually a professional courtesy extended to people like me who worked in one jazz club and went to another one to hear music and hang out. So I paid the cover wherever I went in the early days.
Russ Musto [number one New York jazz fan – SL] took me to Bradley’s the first time and that introduced me to the sound of the smaller group, of piano duos. I think by then I was ready to listen to that intense piano music and the interaction with the bass. Incredible piano players were there. Bradley had set up that room to have the feeling—the ambiance—of his living room and he treated the place as though that’s what it was.
He was a real larger-than-life character who loved the music and musicians, especially piano players, but everybody really. He was open late and it was a welcoming place, so musicians would come there after their gigs, already warmed up, and bring their horns, their instruments, and sit in. I figured that Bradley’s should be the next place for me to work.
The next four years I waitressed at Bradley’s. But for several months in between Sweet Basil and Bradley’s I was an assistant for Art Blakey. That was the summer of 1985. Of course I was a huge fan of the Messengers and I heard them a lot at Sweet Basil, and when I was out of work Art offered me a job. Most of the time I was in his home, helping his wife Ann with all kinds of things—from getting visas for the band members to chasing after their two very young children, Akira and Kenji.
I’d run errands while Ann looked after the kids or look after the kids while Ann ran errands, go to the airport with them, that kind of thing. Art was a really great person and people liked being around him. I did. He offered me that job when I needed it, promised to pay me every week and he paid me what he promised. Honestly, that was something!
Complete on >> http://jazztimes.com/sections/inservice/articles/26799-allyson-paul-waitress
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