Jim Pugh is Pastel Motif

Some call it ‘Soul Jazz’ or ‘BBQ Blues’. That’s the music I started playing at Dottie Ivory’s Stardust Lounge in San Francisco in 1973. I was 19 years old and was new in town. The band was just organ and drums and sometimes guitar. Former fan dancer, Dottie Ivory was a great singer who’s rendition of Dinah Washington’s What A Difference A Day Makes was the highlight in her nightly set .

The Stardust Lounge could be a rough place. A corner bar with a tiny bandstand and even smaller dance floor. Some nights Dottie would sing with a pool cue in her hand. That kinda place. But Jimmy McCracklin would come in- and Charles Brown. I played behind Joe Louis Walker and Fillmore Slim. Mel Brown too. House organist Louis Madison (former Famous Flame) helped me more than anyone. I’d watch him play and get him to show me stuff, and when he had a gig somewhere else I’d take his place for the night. After awhile, they’d let me play the whole week.

‘Don’t play too much of one style of music. Keep it simple and always pay attention to the groove. It has to groove. And keep the tunes short.’

Is it Jazz? Is it Blues? No and no. It’s just images of what I saw and heard back at Dottie Ivory’s Stardust Lounge at the corner of Hayes and Laguna in San Francisco.