Over the
years Tony
has played
informally
with such
luminaries
as Al Hirt
and Allen
Toussaint.
He also
recorded
s e v e n
C D s ,
including the last two with his Mahogany
Hall house band, currently comprised of
Larry Turner on bass, Sam Colgate on
drums and Roberto Perez on piano.
Under Tony and Thais’ ownership, now in
its sixth year, Mahogany Jazz Hall appears
to have found its footing. Until fairly
recently, under its previous ownership, it
occupied a location
in a small
concentration
of topless clubs
in the 100 and
200 blocks of
Chartres Street
and adjacent side
streets.
“When we
first bought the
Mahogany it
was called The
Harem,” Tony
explained. “It was
a disreputable
strip club and there were several others
in that area too. It was a pretty bad corner:
a lot of drugs, prostitution and other bad
stuff going on there. One by one they’ve
all shut down.
Thais Solano & Tony Seville
“So, we took
it over and we
changed the
format into a live
music venue,” he
continued. “But
it was a difficult
changeover. It
went a lot slower
than I thought
it would. It took
about three years
before it really
started to make
any sense and
now it’s starting
to become more
popular.”
Mahogany Jazz
Hall, with a maximum
capacity of
about 80 patrons,
features two shows
a day, every day of
the week; the first
from 5-8:30 p.m.
and the second
from 9 p.m. to 1
a.m. Among the
performers regularly
featured there
are blues guitarist/
vocalist Les Getrex, saxophonist Gary
Brown, vocalist Louise Cappi, pianist/
vocalist Monty Banks, and banjoist Spider
Murphy. Tony and his band perform
every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and
Saturday nights and, occasionally, on their
off-nights, an out-of-town band might be
booked to fill in.
“We really have an all-star lineup. We’re
blessed to have such great musicians
performing at the club,” Tony said.
Happily married for 16 years, Tony and
Thais met during one of his performances
at Port Orleans on Bourbon Street. They
run the club together, along with the
Pirate’s Alley Café. For the club, Tony
does the booking and Thais handles the
business end. They formerly owned a club
on Burgundy Street called Tango “but it
didn’t work out,” Tony said.
While definitely happy that business
is working out well for the club, Tony
laments the fact that “locals” don’t come to
the French Quarter as much as they used
to. “Most of the people who come here
are from out of town and we’re grateful to
them but it would be nice to have more of
our own people coming here as well,” he
said. “We have a lot to offer them.”
Follow Mahogany Jazz Hall Burlesque
and Absinthe House on Facebook or
on their website, http://www.mahogany
jazz-hall.com/
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COURTESY PHOTOS TONY SEVILLE
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