Allegro

Kansas City comes together: a history of the city’s Black AFM local

A series on the racial history of the AFM

Volume 125, No. 2February, 2025

Martha Hyde

Local 802’s DECIBAL Collective is producing a series of Allegro articles on the racial history of the AFM. This includes an examination of the “hyphenated” locals, most of which were the result of the merging of Black and white locals. Welcome to the sixth article in our series.

Union members lined up outside Local 627 headquarters; 1823 Highland Avenue; Kansas City, Missouri; May 4, 1930. Photo credit: J.E. Milles Studio; MMF Photo Collection, #157

Kansas City Musicians Protective Local 627 was formed in 1917 by 25 Black musicians who were barred from joining the older white Local 34. Local 627 was a social hub, clearinghouse for gigs and a place for musicians to report grievances.At that time, the Black section of Kansas City known as 18th and Vine was where the Kansas City style of jazz grew from blues, ragtime and popular standards. Harry St. Clair was Local 627’s founding president, Charles T. Watts was the secretary and Walter Williams was the treasurer.

Local 627 headquarters was on 18th Street right in the district. It had a 14-piece band that it hired out for events. By 1919 the union had become a place for full-time professionals and was raising its profile by offering bands for the Labor Day parade and sending its second president Telford Davis to the AFM conference in Pittsburgh.

In 1925 clarinetist George Wilkerson was elected president and the union became more and more professional, setting pay scales that enabled Kansas City musicians to stay home and gig instead of going on the road. All the clubs and ballrooms in the 18th and Vine district hired Local 627 musicians. In 1928 William Shaw was elected president and served for the next 20 years. He enforced union discipline among members, fining them if they broke the rules and requiring them to march in the Labor Day parade.

Through the years of the Depression, Local 627’s membership grew from 87 to 327. As areas of the southwest United States were hit by hard times, Black musicians migrated to Kansas City. Many bands toured huge regions, calling themselves “territory bands” and covering hundreds of miles. Band leaders would swap “territories,” giving themselves exposure to far flung audiences. Kansas City became a hub in the “territory” circuit. Andy Kirk and the Twelve Clouds of Joy, Walter Page’s Blue Devils along with George E. Lee and Bennie Moten were well-known bands headquartered in Kansas City. See some terrific photos here.

A larger membership required a larger union hall. In 1930 under President Shaw’s leadership, Local 627 moved out of its old headquarters on 18th and Highland Avenue and bought an old apartment building down the street at 1823 Highland Avenue. The union raised the money to renovate the building by holding an enormous benefit dance featuring six of its most famous bands. The building was dedicated during National Music Week on May 4 with a group photo, a 50-piece marching band and a huge battle of the bands, a tradition which continued through the years for National Music Week and other celebrations.

By 1937 as President Shaw was elected for an 11th term, Local 627 had among its members such luminaries as Bill “Count” Basie, Jay McShann, Joe Turner and Charlie “Bird” Parker. The Kansas City style of jazz was well established and though the nearby white Local 34 had more money the fame belonged to Local 627,

Fortunes reversed from 1938 to 1941 when segregationist Missouri Governor Lloyd Stark decided the vibrant center of Kansas City jazz needed to be “swept clean” of “vice and corruption.” Clubs were raided by people wearing small brooms on their lapels. This forced many Black musicians out of work and some took day jobs.Further hardships were caused by World War II rationing of gasoline and rubber, making touring difficult. AFM President James Petrillo’s strike against recording closed that sector off as a way to earn a living. Many musicians were drafted into the armed forces. Jay McShann and Harlan Leonard dissolved their big bands, the last of the famous Black Kansas City big bands. As the big bands declined, smaller combos took their place, finding work in the 18th and Vine district.

In 1949 President Shaw was accused of misappropriating union funds and expelled. He was replaced by Elmer Payne and a whole new board and officers were installed, reforming the accounting system, maintaining member discipline and publishing the union’s newsletter Rhythm Notes.

Post World War II Local 627 continued to boast the membership of famous musicians, among them, Ben Webster and Jimmy Witherspoon. Kansas City still had its own brand of blues and jazz and also the newer rhythm & blues styles and it maintained its status as an important tour stop. The union approved contracts and sometimes intrusively maintained control of its members’ activities. President Elmer Payne was in poor health and largely absent from governance, leaving those duties to the vice president and secretary-treasurer. In 1957, Secretary-Treasurer Richard Smith won election to the presidency over Payne. Payne then filed a claim of financial malfeasance against Smith with the AFM. In a combined meeting of AFM representatives and the Local 627 board, Smith was exonerated and Payne accused of misrepresenting Smith’s actions.

Local 627, like many of its sibling Black musicians’ unions, resisted merging with its white counterpart, Local 34. Their fears were similar the the fears of Black musicians in other cities. They were gigging consistently, they had their own assets, they had control of their governance and they didn’t want their influence diluted in a white union. However, spurred by the Civil Rights movement, the AFL-CIO voted to mandate mergers of all segregated unions and the AFM adopted this policy, forcing reluctant Black locals to merge.

On March 7, 1970 AFM Vice-president Hal Davis along with IEB members Martin Emerson and Vic Fuentealba met with the officers and boards of both locals at the Hilton Inn. Davis reported that there would be an executive order from the AFM president forcing the locals to merge regardless of what happened but that the goal was for the locals to come to an amicable agreement. If they succeeded in doing so, the language of that agreement would be reflected in the executive order and ratification by the membership of the locals was not necessary. The first day of meetings was data gathering and a laying out of the finances and assets of the two locals.

On the next day, March 8, each president described the methods of governance of each local and expressed the desire for an equitable agreement. The rest of the day and evening were spent negotiating the merger. Both locals made compromises and by late evening they arrived at an acceptable agreement that both sides felt would be welcomed by both memberships. On April 1, 1970 the two locals merged, forming the present day Local 34-627.

The Mutual Musicians Foundation, originally incorporated to manage Local 627’s building, retained control of it. It became a social gathering place and host to weekend jam sessions. The foundation at 1823 Highland Avenue is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and in the Kansas City Landmarks Commission Register. In 2017 there was a centennial celebration of the founding of Local 627 at the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

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