Before Bruce, there was West Side and Jazz.
While, music icons like Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes and Jon Bon Jovi have risen from the dilapidated, once successful vacation place that fell onto rocky times after the 1970 riots, there’s another side to Asbury Park, a side that is culturally and historically just as important- Asbury Park’s West Side. If we're talking historically (and we are), from the beginning in the 1870’s, there were continually two Asbury Parks. The picturesque east side bordering the ocean with its boardwalks, amusements and beaches and its utopian, uncluttered image. And the West Side, at first occupied by European immigrants, Jewish people and African-Americans who erected and labored the seaside camp but were not allowed to be there in another way. The West Side has actually been the most destitute division of Asbury Park. But the area expanded into a throbbing African-American neighborhood famous for its viable and entertaining nightlife.
We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Parreott brothers, Dorian a remarkable jazz musician and just as remarkable music teacher, and Rev. Dave J. Parreott Junior, a Baptist minister, retired city police captain and ex councilman and chairman of the Asbury Park Housing Authority.
In any case, this interview, got us thinking about the whole culture of Asbury Park‘s West Side, as it became more African American and jazz clubs suddenly appeared on Springwood Avenue —the instances in which musicians of the segregated city have redressed a terrible injustice that was done to them, the instances in which their music inspired American Pop culture.
Parreott family lived through all of that; segregation, the depression, the riots, the rise and fall of Asbury Park. Brothers grew up on Mattison Avenue in the 1940s, by then segregation became even more racial and intense. Dorian and Dave remember how they were not allowed on the boardwalk and were forbidden from using the beach and swimming in the ocean, except for one place called “the Mud Hole,” where the city sewer lines dumped their waste.
In 1970, years of disregard and injustice climaxed in the Fourth of July civil riot that lead to the burning of numerous blocks of Springwood Avenue. Dave recollected the 1970s riots days, he was a patrolman then, following in his father’s footsteps. He said, he had informed his chiefs soon before the uprisings happened that because of a shortage of jobs and racial restrictions on recreational activities the distress on the West Side got out of control. The riots took everything, all of the stores, the clubs within just a couple of days. Dave as a policeman remembers grabbing people away from destruction and making arrests of his fellow neighbors. It was very difficult for him.
On the other hand, his brother's remarkable career began as a teenager, way back in the 1940′s. In spite of the problems of segregation, distinct societies did form areas where racial culture, specifically entertainment, boomed. Springwood Avenue of the late 1940’s and 1950’s was an eventful commerce street with the night clubs like Cuba’s, Leo Karp’s Turf Club, the Madonna Club and Odyssey Moore’s Orchid Club where key acts played, including Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine and Jimmie Lunsford. These were the vibrant surroundings that paved the way to Dorian’s brilliant career and music education. Later on, he had performed with some of the biggest names in classical and jazz music. He is an acclaimed artist and has had the exceptional chance to play on a Grammy Nominated for Best Jazz Album - “Russell Gunn's” Ethnomusicology 3. Dorian also recorded on "Too Much Sugar for a Dime" and toured Europe and the Middle East with an eight-time winner of the Avant-Garde Jazz Composer of the Year Award, Henry Threadgill and his group Very, Very Circus. For several years now Dorian has performed with Glenn Burtnik’s (STYX) Xmas Xtravaganza; as coordinator and musician for the anniversary of The Band’s live album, The Last Waltz at the Stone Pony. Since he is proficient in all variations of musical genre, Dorian is always in demand as a performer. He has played with groups as diverse as the Scott Joplin Orchestra, Eastern Wind Ensemble, Monmouth Symphony and the Garden State Philharmonic.
And so we thought through this incredible interview, “Asburied In Time” will have a chance to have an in-depth look at Asbury Park’s ethnic separation and its impact on town’s culture and the history. And since the black community of the West Side was nearly fully disregarded by the white mainstream local media, making of this historical reconstruction is very trying, having the opportunity to speak with incredible people like the Parreott brothers is an amazing honor for us as filmmakers. We thank you wholeheartedly for your time.
If anyone else is interested in bringing this difficult part of Asbury Park’s history to the light in a sit down interview for “Asburied In Time” documentary, please drop us a line, we will feel extremely privileged to hear your story.
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