Through the Lens of Jimmy Baynes : R&B NEO Sound

Postal worker Jimmy H. Baynes (1922-2010) followed the lively 1950s and 1960s Cleveland music scene, full of jazz, rhythm & blues, and early rock music.

Baynes supplemented his weekly postal paycheck through Baynes Foto Service at 2220 E. 87th St, primarily photographing local events in the African American community, capturing "pictures that tell the story."

It's rare to find technical excellence, superb artistry and irresistible charisma in one performer. Louis Armstrong had all those qualities. As an architect of jazz and a vocal trendsetter, Armstrong left an indelible mark on music as an art form.

Her voice hit audiences with the force of a hurricane. Mahalia Jackson’s passionate contralto brought sensuality and forceful expression to gospel music. Born in New Orleans, she inherited the city’s legacy of musical excellence and passed it on for generations to come.

They called Atlantic “the house that Ruth built” for good reason—her two dozen hits put the budding company on the map. Ruth Brown was both a diva and a fighter, a glamorous R&B singer and a tireless advocate for musicians’ rights.

Bow down to the King of the Blues! Throughout B.B. King’s 50-year career of new influences, collaboration and incessant touring, the blues have been his home. He came up in a time of racial divide, uniting us with music that served as a reminder—we all have the blues.

LaVern Baker was a rock & roll diva with an irresistible belt and sultry R&B edge.  A versatile vocalist, LaVern Baker proved capable of melding blues, jazz and R&B styles in a way that made possible the emergence of a new idiom: Rock & Roll.

Raising hell with the devil’s music, that’s what Jerry Lee Lewis does best. He pounded the piano with such abandon that it’s a wonder it didn’t come apart. He is a defiant, reckless, indefatigable wild man that can rock you into oblivion.

The brazen Motown girl group with an unyielding R&B edge. Martha & the Vandellas were the Supremes' tougher, more grounded counterpart. With her cheeky, fervent vocals, Martha Reeves led the group in a string of irresistible dance anthems.

Lady Soul: the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Aretha Franklin was an artist of passion, sophistication and command, whose recordings remain anthems that defined soul music. Long live the Queen!

Nina Simone’s unapologetic rage and accusatory voice named names and took no prisoners in the African-American struggle for equality in the early 1960s. Her triumphant voice sang what it meant to be young, gifted and Black in a sometimes unjust and troubled world.

Phillis Haynes was the owner of the Pinwheel Lounge at E. 106th, where both local and major out of town soul acts performed. The Pinwheel was a popular venue for musicians, as Haynes was also a performer and treated the talent very well.

In 1948 Bill Hawkins, a former Pullman porter, became Cleveland's first Black disc jockey. Over the next decade, Hawkins could be heard on four different radio stations, sometimes all in one day. He was widely imitated and influenced a generation of DJs, including Alan Freed.

Cleveland earned its place on the rock & roll map in the early 1950s when Record Rendezvous owner Leo Mintz and WJW deejay Alan Freed mainstreamed the term “rock & roll” to describe the R&B music of the time. 

The Cleveland Arena, located at 3717 Euclid Ave, was built in 1937. It was the site in March 1952 of radio deejay Alan Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball. With the opening of Richfield Coliseum in 1974, the Arena ceased to host major events and was demolished in 1977.

The original Leo's Casino was a bar opened in 1952 by Leo Frank at Central Ave and East 49th. Frank expanded the bar into a jazz room and booked greats like Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. 

After a 1962 fire, Leo Frank was joined by partner Jules Berger, and they opened a bigger nightclub in the old Quad Hall Hotel at 7500 Euclid Ave.