Major Jazz

“Our heated passion created some of my best compositions, but I was cursed with my daddy’s blood.” Major Ingram witnessed the heartbreak his father inflicted on his mother, and he didn’t want to make the same mistake. There was only one her and that was his music. Major’s dad was a Blues playin’ saxophonist who spoon-fed Major from the first day he opened his eyes to the world. Major fell in love with the ivory and ebony keys the first time he heard a piano. By the age of sixteen, he had landed a paying gig at Bop City, an after-hours nightclub in Fillmore. The ‘Mo was like Harlem all over again. Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Duke Ellington all fell into San Francisco the way they had in the Big Apple. In the summer of 1951, the Victorian-styled homes housed finely dressed Blacks who owned their own businesses from cleaners to restaurants to jazz clubs. They worked mornings during the week and enjoyed local and celebrity musicians at night. Up and down Fillmore Street, clubs and restaurants lined up right behind the other. From club to party to bar until the early hours of Monday morning, music played nonstop. Based on true testimonies, the Fillmore Jazz Era comes back to life through Major Ingram, Kae Taylor, the Aquino sisters, and Frank Blue. They make music heartfelt. The Fillmore Jazz Era may be gone but it’s not forgotten, and the love for Bebop, Jazz, R&B, and Blues music that once existed remains in the heart and soul of Fillmore forever.