A dry cool breeze swept broken clouds across the moon as over three hundred people filled the Mugford Street structure, a hundred more than the famous club could hold on its busiest night. Lennie Sogoloff himself was there, with his wife and many family members. Jazz clubs come and go, and in their passing, they leave longings for those who love jazz. I've witnessed jazz in many famous clubs - Birdland, Sweet Basil's, Pall's Mall. Most are blessed by big city locales.
Jazz is an urban music.
But Lennie's, in West Peabody, squashed between a trailer park and a truck rental company, was the greatest club of them all. I was hooked. What made Lennie's so memorable was not just the music. You hear jazz masters in all the better clubs. Nor was it the low-ceilinged intimacy.