{image1}Arlis R. Jones started out with nothing except a love for music and a desire to create entertainment opportunities for African Americans. With a $4,000 loan from his mother Jones bought a north side building on a land contract, and 28 years later, he's a successful commercial real estate redeveloper who has owned 10 clubs.
"My goal was always to take it to the highest level," says Jones. "I don't even know what that is, but I know there's no ceiling."
Currently, Jones, 59, owns and operates ARJ's Jazz and Blues Club, 3120 W. Villard Ave., on Milwaukee's north side. He opened the establishment in November of 1998 and since then, has hosted scores of local and national jazz and R&B acts.
ARJ's is the largest entertainment facility on the north side, and caters to an "over-30" crowd. The L-shaped club is 11,000 square feet, with four bars and a 40-foot by 20-foot dance floor.
Jones enforces a strict dress code, requiring club goers to dress nicely and save their baseball hats, skullcaps, baggy jeans and sweat suits for other bars.
"You don't have to wear a tuxedo, but we want people to look neater, because when they do, they usually act better," he says.
ARJ's offers "steppin'" and "boppin'" dance lessons for $7, both popular variations of ballroom dancing. "We are the premiere 'boppin'' and 'steppin'' club in Milwaukee," says Jones. "We're even rivaling Chicago and New York."
Although Joes claims he is a "humungous fan of all music, from country western to rock," his favorite is smooth jazz. He says he also likes hip-hop and rap and allows DJs to spin it on the dance floor, but prefers jazz for a variety of reasons.
"I have yet to see a riot at a jazz concert," says Jones.
As a real estate redeveloper, Jones buys a commercial property, opens it as a bar, and if it doesn't meet the standards he's looking for, sells the building and rolls the profit into another property. He is the former owner of Cibani's, Alexandria's, Mr. J's Lounge, Marty's on Burleigh, Brief Reflections, Reflections, the Savoy and "two corner joints."
Jones originally worked as a national sales representative for a local brewery and while traveling around the country, noticed that there was a lack of upscale clubs in African American neighborhoods that featured African American musicians.
"There were lots of bars, but not nice clubs with higher entertainment," he says. "So my passion became the dream to improve entertainment for African Americans and I stuck with it."
Although the clientele is primarily African American, Jones says that for special events there's usually more of a mixed crowd, which will be the case when Narada jazz artist, Alex Bugnon, performs on Fri., Feb. 13.
Bugnon, a Swiss-born keyboardist and composer, will play in support of his latest record, "Southern Living."
Jones' is a fan of Bugnon's work and identifies with the title of this album because his family is originally from the South. He moved to Milwaukee as a child and graduated from Rufus King High School on 17th and Olive Streets.
Jones feels very committed to Milwaukee's struggling north side and hopes he is helping to offer opportunity and an alternative environment for music lovers.
"If we can just get people to look at each other with more respect," he says. "I worked really hard to get where I am. I wish I could say to young people 'sometimes you have to eat hamburger for a long time but if you work hard, you can do this.'"
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
