Miriam Moffitt

She was born Miriam Leona Seals in 1884, in New Bedford, Massachusetts.[4][5] Her maiden name was also spelled Seales.[4] Her parents were Harrison Seals (1847–1942) and Esther Seals (1854–1941).[4] Both her parents were of mixed African American and Native American ancestry.[4] Her father, Harrison Seals, was born in New Bedford,[4] where he worked as a stove maker and tinsmith.[6] She was named after her paternal grandmother, Miriam Johnson Seals, who had once been enslaved.[4] Her mother, born Esther Fields, was part-African American and part-Mohawk Indian.[4] Aware of Miriam's musical talent from a young age, Esther Seals arranged for her daughter to receive formal training in piano.[6]

Starting in her teens, Miriam Seals performed extensively across a wide range of musical genres, as a soloist, accompanist, and in ensembles.[4] Her first job was as an accompanist at the New Bedford School of Dance.[6] She also played for theatre groups and was a church organist.[6] She had the opportunity to showcase her improvisation skills while playing in silent film theaters, and on harbor cruises at New Bedford.[4] Her popular music repertoire included “cake walks, rags, two steps...marches, popular songs, and dance pieces.”[4]

Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds

Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds (1923)

After marrying a second time and moving to Worcester, she started Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds,[4] the first jazz ensemble in the city of Worcester.[2] From 1922 to 1928, Miriam Moffitt was the band leader and pianist.[2][3] Band members included:

• Miriam “Mamie” Moffitt on piano;
• Wallace Moffitt on cornet;
• Alfred Moffitt on saxophone;
• Harold Black on violin and banjo;
• John Byard on trombone; and
• Boots Ward on drums.[4]

The "Five Jazz Hounds" included family and relatives, including her husband Wallace, her brother-in-law Alfred, and Alfred's nephew Harold Black.[4] Young Wendell Culley was an occasional guest on the trumpet.[4][7] After Mamie Moffitt left, drummer Boots Ward started his own band, The Nite Hawks, which included Harold Black and John Byard.[5]

In 1901, Miriam married John Thomas, who worked on the rail service between New Jersey and New York City.[4] After their divorce, Miriam moved back to New Bedford with their two daughters: Natalie (b. 1902) and Dorothy Thomas (b. 1907).[4]

In 1918, Miriam married Wallace Moffitt, a cornet player from Worcester, Massachusetts.[6] He had two children of his own, Donald and Edna Moffitt. Later, Miriam and Wallace also adopted Madeline Moffitt.[6]

Miriam Moffitt died on October 17, 1954.[6] Trumpet player Wendell Culley, who by then was playing with the Count Basie Orchestra,[7] was said to have visited her before she died.[4]

In recent years, Miriam "Mamie" Moffitt has been referred to as "Worcester's First Lady of Jazz".[3] Her biography, including many photographs and oral history interviews, are now featured in the Jazz History Database at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.[8] The Jazz History Database was established in 2001, after Rich Falco started researching the musical roots of Jaki Byard, who has been called “the most acclaimed and influential jazz musician to come out of Worcester”.[8] When he was in high school, Jaki Byard wrote arrangements and occasionally played the piano for his father's band, The Nite Hawks, which had originally formed as an offshoot of Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds.[5]

• Wendell Culley
• Jaki Byard

• Jazz History Database — Miriam 'Mamie' Moffitt
• Jazz Riffing on a Lost Worcester