Wally Rose (October 2, 1913 – January 12, 1997, Walnut Creek, California) was an American jazz and ragtime pianist.
Wally Rose was born in Oakland, California, but lived in Honolulu, his family’s original home, in his early youth. Later, he went to school in Oakland and San Francisco and studied piano with Alice Eggers and Elizabeth Simpson. After graduating high school, Rose played with several well-known dance bands, including Anson Weeks, and performed on cruise ships through the 1930s. Around 1940, he met Lu Watters and the musicians who would eventually form the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. Rose attended some of the after-hours sessions at the Big Bear Tavern in the Oakland Hills where his keyboard technique and his ability to read music impressed Watters.
After pianist Forrest Browne left the ensemble, Watters invited Rose to join the Yerba Buena Jazz Band (YBJB) in 1941. He played with them at the Dawn Club and was heard on all of their KYA broadcasts. Rose participated in the first two recording sessions by the YBJB in December, 1941 and March, 1942, and was responsible for the single best-selling disc of either session, “Black And White Rag.” The 78 sold a tremendous number of copies and should be credited with launching a revival of interest in ragtime. Rose served in the U.S. Navy during the war but after his discharge he was back on piano when the band returned to the Dawn Club in March, 1946.
In 1947 Lu Watters found a new location for the band to perform, a large nightclub in El Cerrito, on the east side of the Bay. The club was named Hambone Kelly’s, and Watters proposed making it a co-operative, with the musicians able to live on the premises and to share in the profits. Rose objected to the idea, and asked to be paid as a salaried performer. He left in 1948. For over a year, Rose put his highly-developed keyboard technique to work playing light classical music. Finally, an emissary dispatched by Lu Watters convinced Rose to return to the Yerba Buena Jazz Band and Hambone Kelly’s. Though he was in and out of the band for the next two years, Rose was present on all the group’s 1949 – 50 recordings for Watters’ Down Home and Norman Granz’s Mercury label, as well as the regular broadcasts on KLX.
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| L-R Harry Mordecai, Lu Watters, Wally Rose, Turk Murphy |
Hambone Kelly’s closed on January 1, 1951, and Rose immediately began to freelance, once again playing light opera, gypsy music, and occasional gigs with Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy and the Firehouse Five Plus Two. Wally Rose’s 1951 – 52 Good Time Jazz recordings with Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band are excellent illustrations of his abilities as a band pianist. In 1952 Wally joined Turk Murphy’s and left in 1955, to be replaced by his star pupil, Pete Clute. Through the rest of the decade, Rose found plenty of work. He led his own groups at the Tin Angel with New Orleans blues singer Lizzie Miles and at Easy Street with Barbara Dane.
He also worked as a soloist at Goman’s Gay ‘90s, the Palace Hotel, and other venues. In 1957, he performed at the Dixieland Ragtime Jamboree, benefiting the Musicians’ Pension Fund, where, in addition to leading his own Dixieland band, he was the featured soloist on “Rhapsody In Blue” with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
During the 1960’s Wally was seldom unemployed. For over a decade, he appeared at clubs such as Gold Street and the Cirque Room at the Fairmont Hotel. He also played occasional intermissions at Turk Murphy’s club Earthquake McGoon’s. Rose continued to work mainly as a soloist in the early ‘70s. He settled in for a long run as a soloist at the Gold Dust Lounge. At the Gold Dust, he played a variety of old and new pop music and did a stellar job of interacting with the audience. He was also happy to perform rags for any fans that happened to stop in for drinks. After years of staying close to home, Rose performed as far away as the Newport Jazz Festival in New York City and the Oude Stijl Jazz Festival in Breda, Holland. In 1970, he recorded his first solo album since 1953 for Blackbird Records, and a follow-up LP in 1971. Both albums included rags that were new to his repertoire.
Sadly, Rose was in the beginning stages of dementia when he appeared at the festival in San Diego. He lost his place in the music, forgot how to play familiar songs, and wound up spending much of the weekend offstage, being looked after by a friend. As the disease progressed, Rose was also afflicted with cancer. He passed away on 12 January 1997 in Walnut Creek, California.
(Edited mainly from an article by Hal Smith @ Stanford Libraries)
Here's a rare clip of Wally playing Grizzly Bear rag during 1995