Sweet Lorraine’s Jazz Club celebrates 60 plus years of business

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During Labor Day weekend Sweet Lorraine's Jazz Club is hosting Sweet Lorraine's Community Jazz Festival; a free day-long music extravaganza on Saturday and Sunday, September 5 & 6, 2009, culminating with the tradition Black Men of Labor Second Line Parade which begins at 3:00 pm on that Sunday. The Community Festival celebrates more than sixty years of combined service in the entertainment business by Paul Sylvestre, Jr. and his late parents, Paul & Lorraine Sylvester.

The weekend begins with Sweet Lorraine's Jazz Club 10th Anniversary highlighted by a concert and patron party featuring Jazz/R&B legend Norman Connors and New Orleans' jazz vocalist Stephanie Jordan on Friday and Saturday, September 4 & 5, 2009 for two shows each night at 9:00 pm and 11:00 pm.

Recognizing New Orleans contribution to America's only original art form, jazz; the 100th United States Congress declared jazz a "rare and valuable national American treasure to which we should devote our attention, support and resources to make certain it is preserved, understood, and promulgated." While Paul Sylvester, Jr. has lived that mantra for the past ten years, the full story of Sweet Lorraine's Jazz Club doesn't begin there.

A far back as 1943, Paul's maternal grandmother Clara McCarthy operated Melvina & Lorraine's Garden of Joy from 1943 to 1966. Her husband, Mitchell McCarthy was a trucker for Mahoney Trucking Company & Brown Velvet's Ice Cream, the steady income allow them to opportunity to invest in their own business. The first location was at 2215 Ongaza Street. A victim of urban renewal, the business moved to 1614 New Orleans Street (now Hunter's Field) in 1948, operating from that location until 1966. Finally, again being forced to move by the government because of the pending construction of federal interstate (I-10) system through the heart of the historic Faubourg Tremé neighborhood, not unlike many other residents who lived in this proud part of the city which had served as America's oldest neighborhood for "free-people-of-color, " Clara decided to give up and not relocate her business a third time.

Fortunately, at an early age Clara's entrepreneur spirit had inspired one of her three daughters, Lorraine. Sonja McCarthy, one of two sisters of Lorraine reflects on their earlier days, "my sister developed a sense of independence as child, while my sister Melvina (McCarthy-Williams) and I were playing Lorraine was always thinking of ways to earn money. It started with the "penny parties" as a child and continued through her adult life." She continues, "Hand scraping "snow balls" at 5 cents each and 1 penny extra for condense milk with a cherry on top, the childhood hustle began to grow. My daddy had to build a front counter for serving and a side counters to hold the one-hundred pound blocks of ice. There were times when my sister would scrap as much as two-hundred pounds of ice a day."

That feeling of doing for self apparently would have an influence her of selection of a mate. Her husband Paul whom she married in 1950 was also a businessman. From 1949 – 1958 they operated Sylvester's Sea Food Bar & Restaurant; initially located at 406 Flake Avenue, in 1952 they move the business to 2131 Iberville Street and finally in 1955 moving to 2318 Saint Anthony Street. Fully understanding the advantage of business diversity, they also operated three cars from Jet Taxi; one of the City's earliest Black-owned cab companies during that era. During that time span, Paul also ran the Circle Bar at 2220 London Avenue (now known as A.P. Tureaud).

In 1958 Paul and Lorraine separated, however they remained extremely close friends and would continue to help each other out with their business ventures. Still, Lorraine would branch out independently for the first time since the days of the "snow ball" stand.

Her first solo venture in the entertainment business would be Lorraine's Lounge which she operated at 1621 Saint Bernard Avenue from 1958 – 1965, overlapping during a time in which her mother operated Melvina & Lorraine's Garden of Joy. Probably because of the two properties rears being adjacent to each other, the locals affectionately referred to Lorraine's Lounge as the Two Way In.
Another interesting note is that on the front of the building were the words written in large 12-inch letters, "FOR COLORED ONLY." These words replaced the letters of a previous owner of the building which read, "WHITE ONLY." This was symbolic of the changing times our country was engaged during this period of segregation and the Civil Rights struggle.

Urban renewal and the construction of I-10 would have an effect on Lorraine's Lounge as well, forcing her to find a new location for her business. In 1965 she temporally moved to 2340 Pauger for two years. From 1968 – 1975, she operated Lorraine's Lounge from a location at 1715 North Claiborne Avenue.

In 1975, Lorraine moved to 1931 Saint Claude Street, operating under the name of Lorraine's Dugout Lounge. The Club sponsored a team which played in the Crescent City Baseball League and served as a popular watering hole for patrons of the League. It was also a gathering spot for the traditional Mardi Gras Indians and their followers.

However, the name Lorraine's Dugout Lounge was inspired not by the baseball team she sponsored, but rather by a visit to Las Vegas she experienced with her two sisters. "We dined in a place called the Dugout Restaurant, she loved the place and was inspired by the service as well as a few players they had met, she vowed that the next business she opened would be named after the Vegas restaurant, " adds Sonya.

She returned to New Orleans and honored that commitment, operating Lorraine's Dugout Lounge until the time of her death on June 4, 1984. Paul would take over the operation of the business. With the passing of Melvina McCarthy Williams on February, 3, 1985 and Clara McCarthy on July, 23, 1986, it was a difficult time for the family.

A little more than a decade following his mother's death, Paul would renovate and re-open the place as a jazz club on Labor Day weekend, September 5, 1999, honoring his mother with a new name of what was formerly Lorraine's Dugout Lounge. The song "Sweet Lorraine" by Nat King Cole was a favorite of both his mother and father and was on the record box of every established that the two had owned, both individually as well as after their separation. "My father had passed away on March 27, 1996 while tending to his garden. Knowing the importance of that tune to the two of them, and with Lorraine being her first name, "Sweet Lorraine's" was a fitting tribute, " says Paul.

And fitting it is, Sweet Lorraine's Jazz Club has been featured in Essence and Travel & Leisure Magazine, while USA Today rates the place as one of the Top 10 Jazz Clubs in the country. Located only blocks from the world famous French Quarter, Sweet Lorraine's endures as "Stewarts in the Tradition" of music and community with a mission of forwarding Jazz music's traditional high standards, while providing a venue and vehicle for growth and exhibition.

In an interview with music writer Geraldine Wyckoff, "Sylvester credits his mother's reputation as a generous woman with great business sense for the success of the St. Claude Street nightspot in both of its incarnations. Things might not have gone as well, he says, if the club was somewhere else with a different name. Sweet Lorraine's has endured despite hardships including a 2000 fire in the next building that closed the club for 18 months. Then came the roof damage inflicted by Katrina and the subsequent flooding when the levees broke. Through it all, patrons remained loyal to her memory and name, Lorraine, that graced almost all of the welcoming clubs where she greeted people with respect and often freshly boiled seafood . . ."

The Club is based in the Tremé community which lays claim to its rightful place in the beginnings of Jazz; this thin-stripped area became famous as hallowed grounds of greats such as Sidney Bechet, “Jelly Role” Morton, and Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong. That tradition is being carried out by a new generation of Tremé jazz musicians such as Kermit Ruffins, James Andrews, Glenn David Andrews and Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, and others.

The Club has hosted the likes of Roy Ayers, Pieces of a Dream, Deacon Jones, Pharoah Sanders, Angela Bofill, Garto Barbierl, Wes Anderson, Lonnie Liston Smith, the Marsalis Family, Donald Harrison, Nicholas Payton, and a host of others. Paul adds that “By continuing to showcase Live Jazz, Sweet Lorraine’s pay tribute to the only true indigenous American art form. This classic American music has its genetic marker undeniably anchored in this historic community.”

Like the rest of New Orleans, Sweet Lorraine’s operation was halted in August of 2005 during hurricane Katrina with damage to the roof and flooding within the building. While the official reopening was April of 2006, locals gathered at the place as early as November of 2005 and had a big 2006 New Year’s Celebration. It was the only African American-owned establishment open in the City during that time. “It served as place where we could come and gather our thoughts about New Orleans future and our role in the recovery, if any, ” adds Paul. “It brought us together, now almost as an unofficial “Black think-thank”.”

While always a favorite among New Orleans’ political leaders, the Club seems to have gained added importance as the place to talk politics and recovery by both local and national organizations. National Leaders such as Reverend Jesse Jackson, Susan Taylor, and Marc Morial have all held an event at Sweet Lorraine’s which were centered on the issue of the “Right to Return.” And each weekend there remains a table rese

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