Philadelphia Clef Club of the Performing Arts

The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts was founded in 1966 as the social club of Union Local No. 274 of the American Federation of Musicians. Founded in 1935, Local No. 274 was Philadelphia’s Black musicians union. At a time when the city’s Black musicians struggled for political, economic and cultural recognition, Local No. 274 gave them representation and broke a tradition of segregation. With members such John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, “Philly Joe Jones,” Grover Washington Jr., the Heath Brothers, Nina Simone, and Butch Ballard, Local No. 274 was crucial to the growth of a thriving jazz scene in Philadelphia. When it dissolved in 1971, Local No. 274 was the last independent Black musicians union in the United States.

The Clef Club was founded by James Adams and members of Local No. 274 as the Local’s social club. Renowned musicians traveled to Philadelphia to visit the Clef Club; it was not unusual to see Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Art Blakey, Dinah Washington, Max Roach and others exchanging jazz ideas in the hallways of the club. The Clef Club eventually became a haven for jazz lovers, who would pack the club on weekends and watch celebrities as they made their flashy entrances. The Club became so popular that it created a “B” membership for jazz lovers and out-of-town musicians. In 1970 it was relocated from 912 South Broad Street to 114 South 13th Street. The Clef Club continued to function as a social club until 1978, when it expanded its activities to include jazz performance, jazz instruction, and the preservation of Philadelphia’s rich jazz history. In 1995, the Clef Club established a new facility on the corner of Broad and Fitzwater Streets that houses classrooms, a performance space, recording facilities, and executive offices. Now known as The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, the Clef Club is a unique artist-founded and artist-run cultural organization that provides lessons, concerts, cultural events and services to musicians and is committed to the promotion and preservation of jazz music.

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