Ryles Jazz Club
For over 40 years, Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge’s Inman Square stood as the premier destination for jazz artists to play – and for the rest of us to listen. Local impresario Jack Reilly, who also owned Jacks on Massachusetts Avenue, opened the venue in 1977.
Reilly said his main objective in establishing the club was to provide a place where young musicians just starting could play and refine their craft. Naturally, he welcomed players from New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee along with those from the area’s many other institutions of higher education. Inside, the club had those small café tables reminiscent of the iconic jazz clubs in New York City and a small stage that could get rather crowded depending on the size of the act.
New ownership, Notable appearances
In 1994, the club changed hands with the Mitchell family buying Ryles, which was directly across the street from their restaurant and deli. The Mitchells invested heavily in the space, upgrading it to include dancing on the second floor and a live music section on the first level. Reilly passed away in 2016 at age 98, 22 years after the torch had been passed to the Mitchell family.
The club provided a multi-genred mix of jazz, blues and R&B as well as Latin and Brazilian jazz. Sundays were known as “Salsa Sundays” at Ryles, bringing in all levels of dancers to wrap up the weekend at the club. The list of artists that played Ryles over the years was a prominent group of both local and national legends and lesser-known figures. Berklee professor and pianist Ray Santisi regularly took the stage and others included Randy Brecker, Pat Metheny, Grover Washington Jr., McCoy Tyner, Robben Ford and Maynard Ferguson. The list goes on and on, with too future stars to name.
Vibe, Closing, Potential reopening
Ryles showcased talented artists, of course, but it also had something else: a particular vibe that you had to experience firsthand to truly understand. When you were there, you felt like you were seeing and hearing something special that you would have an extremely difficult time finding elsewhere. The mood was enhanced by the era itself, since in those days people used to leave their homes more often than now to seek out live music. Imagine a highly diversified group of music lovers sitting together in a room and appreciating all the talent required to produce the music that simply made them feel good. Bottle it and pour it over ice…that was Ryles.
Unfortunately for such souls, Ryles closed its doors for good in June 2018, after the Mitchell family decided to focus on the restaurant side of their business after owning the club for over 20 years. The good news is that, according to reports, the Mitchells may sell the Ryles name, possibly allowing for the club to be reborn somewhere else in the area at some point. While it’s impossible to know if a future Ryles could recapture the old magic of Inman Square, here’s hoping we get the chance to find out.
(by Mark Turner)
