The Rocking Chair

The Story

This legendary old club operated in a two-story house with a faux brick facade in the heart of Jackson Street's jazz scene. On a March night in 1948, a young, unknown, and blind pianist named Ray Charles, still 17 years old, walked in to participate in a jam session, and the audience liked him so much that he landed a regular contract the following summer, forming the McSon Trio. The trio was mistakenly renamed the Maxin Trio by the record label, and that name stuck. It was at this club that producer Jack Lauderdale, owner of Down Beat Records, heard the trio play and offered Ray Charles his first recording contract, which became his debut single, Confession Blues, released in 1949. The building has not existed for over 60 years. Today, it is part of the Bailey Gatzert Elementary school.

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