The Jazz Gallery was long a Riverwest institution before it closed in the mid-'80s.
Live records were made there, the likes of Bill Cosby came down after comedy gigs to sit in on the drums with Jimmy Smith there. It was, for many years, the place in town to see big name jazz musicians in Milwaukee.
An August 1983 calendar showed no less than Art Blakey, Arturo Sandoval and Phil Woods on the schedule, alongside local notables like Manty Ellis, David Hazeltine and Brian Lynch.
Now, the venue, at 926 E. Center St., is back, in collaboration with the Riverwest Artists Association.
According to The Jazz Gallery's Facebook page, a re-launch party is set for Saturday, Aug. 6, from 6 until 9 p.m., with New York's The Waday 4, featuring Peter Schlamb on vibes, guitarist Wade Ridenhour, bassist Aaron Darrell and drummer Devin Drobka.
The Kenny Reichert Quartet will also perform. The event is free.
For more info on the new Jazz Gallery, call (414) 374-4722.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
