In our March tributes issue, JazzTimes honored not only the many individuals we lost in 2018 but also a place that has now become part of the past: Ryles, which stood at the corner of Hampshire and Inman Streets in Cambridge, Mass., for 41 years.
Cambridge’s oldest jazz club and the second oldest such establishment in the greater Boston area, Ryles was opened by the late impresario Jack Reilly in 1977. Its emphasis was always on local performers, but given that Berklee and New England Conservatory students, faculty, and alumni fell into that category, the quality of the music it presented was consistently high.
Over the years, Pat Metheny, Arturo Sandoval, Jon Hendricks, McCoy Tyner, Maynard Ferguson, and many others graced Ryles’ stage. However, the club’s final public show on June 29, 2018 featured no celebrities, just a hard-working crew from Chelmsford, Mass., called the Soul City Band. Photographer Joseph Allen was there to capture a bittersweet night for Boston jazz fans. —MAC RANDALL
See photos from the show in the gallery below.
