Ruby Bishop (1919-2019) was born in Thurston County and was a well-known Seattle jazz singer and pianist for decades. Ms. Bishop was an active member of the American Federation of Music (AFM) Local 493 in Seattle, also known as the "Negro Musicians' Union," founded in 1918 as Local 458 when African Americans were excluded from Seattle's first musicians' union, AFM Local 76. Local 493 was at the heart of Seattle's vibrant jazz scene, and its E. Jefferson Street “clubhouse,” the Blue Note, was a lifeline for the black community, functioning as a union hall, nightspot, and social club. With the changing social climate in the 1950s, the musicians' unions were desegregated, and Locals 76 and 493 formally merged in 1958. AFM Local 76-493 is still an active union in Seattle as of 2019.
In this image Ruby Bishop poses at a piano at Ivar's Fifth Avenue Restaurant where, at the time, she was playing nightly for upscale dinner guests. Ms. Bishop had long-standing gigs at Martins Off Madison and the Mayflower Hotel. Ms. Bishop and her husband, Alex Bishop, a pharmacist, raised their children in Seattle, and she held additional jobs such as court reporter, beautician, and cabinet maker (in her 50s she rebuilt her own kitchen and made bookcases for her grandchildren). At 90 her second husband, Alfred Schilling, encouraged her to start playing in clubs again, and she got a regular gig playing at Vito’s until she retired in 2017 at 97 years old. In 2016 Ms. Bishop was inducted into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame.
Caption information source: "Ruby Bishop, Seattle jazz artist and queen of the keys at Vito’s, dies at 99," The Seattle Times, June 28, 2019, p. B2. Caption information source: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/race-gender-jazz-local-493-black-women-musicians-seattle-1920-1955 Caption information source: "AFM Seattle Local 493 (1918-1958), 'Negro Musicians' Union,'" by Peter Blecha, HistoryLink.org Essay 10329. Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.
ID Number: 2000.107.022.17.01
Date: 1958
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : b&w ; 8 x 10 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
