January 23, 2025

Wally’s Jazz Cafe is a tiny live room, sitting among a sea of brick row homes in Boston. Founder Joseph Walcott launched the business in 1947, wanting to create a place where Black folks could enjoy jazz alongside Whites – his was the first integrated club – and where students could play alongside more experienced musicians. His great grandson, Frank Poindexter, runs the club alongside his mother and brothers and joins World Cafe to discuss how they have kept Joseph Walcott’s dream going.