Mission Restaurant, located on the northern end of North Street in Pittsfield, is closing unexpectedly on October 31st. Whenever a restaurant closes it has ramifications beyond simply the end of a business. Peoples’ lives are affected. Staff may find it hard to find employment elsewhere, regular patrons may miss a favorite place to gather, an owner may have to face financial ruin. In this case, Mission’s closing is more than that. Its closing means the end of an almost 12-year run as the premier venue for jazz musicians and fans to gather in Berkshire County.
Mission began as a cool but inclusive gathering spot in what was a decidedly uncool city 15 years ago. It really hit its stride after its first couple of years when Mission’s Monday Night Jazz became a mecca for local jazz musicians and jazz fans and those visiting the area. It was a cultural contributor to Pittsfield’s rebound from its darkest days after GE left town. Mission’s Monday Night Jazz went on to become the nexus for a nascent jazz scene in Berkshire County. As trombonist and composer Don Mikkelsen described it, “It was the spark that lit a small, but mighty flame… It was the central jazz scene in the Berkshires.”
Berkshires Jazz founder and president, Ed Bride had this to say, “It was a wonderful scene on Monday nights, a jazz vibe worthy of New York’s favorite haunts…The loss of Mission is a cultural tragedy and a big loss to downtown. I hope whatever happens next…will pay heed to what has been going on there for the past 11-plus years.” Ed likened Mission’s closing to Bradley’s, the Greenwich Village saloon which closed its doors in 1996 after 27 years of being the spot where the best of world-class jazz talent made a pilgrimage. Bradley’s was, in the words of New York Times’ Peter Watrous, “part jazz headquarters, part jazz college, part exhibition hall.” The same attributes could be applied to Monday Night Jazz at Mission.
Mission’s Monday Night Jazz created an extended family where all were welcome, and all could share the joys of first-class live jazz while enjoying a meal or just a beverage. For musicians and jazz fans alike, hearing of Mission’s closing elicited strong emotions.
Berkshire’s favorite vocalist, Wanda Houston, who regularly brings the house down wherever she plays with her incredibly soulful vocals, shared her feelings, “Hearing of its closing felt like hearing of a close friend’s passing. It was a shock and it hurt because I’d grown to love the place and looked forward to playing there.”
Vocalist, pianist, composer, and regular patron, Chantell McFarland had this perspective, “There are so many words that come to mind when I think of Mission. The ones that touch my heart and precede my eyes swelling up with tears are love and friendship. I love this place and the many friends I’ve grown to love because of it.”
I spent some time recently with bassist Andy Wrba, the heart, soul, and director of Mission’s Monday Night Jazz for the past almost 12 years. He began playing at Mission Restaurant a few years after it opened under former owner Jim Benson when it was known as Mission Bar and Tapas. At the time, Andy was earning his living playing bass with the group Barefoot Truth, playing 200-250 gigs a year throughout the country. After a few years of touring and having been born and brought up in Pittsfield, Andy decided he wanted to move from Barefoot Truth’s base of operation in Mystic, Connecticut, back to his roots. When he returned to Pittsfield, he hooked up with Noah Weiss who’d been playing sax with James Taylor. As Andy explained to me, “Jim [Benson] was open to all sorts of arts events at the time.” Since Monday nights are typically the night off from regularly booked gigs for jazz musicians, it allows them to play with musicians they may not regularly gig with. This is a tradition in select jazz venues throughout the world. It was from this phenomenon that Mission’s Monday Night Jazz was born, about three years after the restaurant opened.
Monday Night Jazz, first advertised as Blues Monday, was originally conceived as a bar event without food with the Wrba / Weiss Quartet as the foundation, joined by John “Wayno” Waynelovich from Barefoot Truth on keyboards. Various drummers filled out the quartet while other jazz and blues musicians would sit in with them on most nights.
Over the years, the list of musicians grew, and Mission’s Monday Night Jazz became a local mecca of sorts for jazz musicians and fans alike. Andy has been joined on Monday nights by hundreds of notable jazz musicians and luminaries such as Ted Rosenthal, Armen Donelian, Grace Kelly, and earlier on with Grammy award-winning saxophonist, Charles Neville from the world-famous New Orleans based Neville Brothers Band.
Charles had relocated to Berkshire County and was the first legendary musician who sat in. Andy, in his mid-twenties at the time, told me he was more than a little intimidated―wiping his sweaty palms on his pants intimidated―playing with someone of his stature. From the start, Andy found Charles to be friendly and approachable and Charles regularly sat in on Monday nights for years. However, the challenge for Andy and his bandmates was that Charles was used to playing with his brothers and other veteran New Orleans musicians who knew each other’s musical shorthand. Andy laughed when he recounted how Charles would turn to the band, call out a song, wouldn’t count it off to establish tempo, grunt “Unh!”, and start playing, leaving his young bandmates trying to determine the beat on the fly. Andy also recalled how intimidating it was when Charles would turn and face Andy on Mission’s tight bandstand to observe Andy’s playing while they were less than three feet apart. The entire jazz and blues world mourned when Charles passed away in 2018 at the age of 79 after a lifetime of thrilling audiences with his distinctive brand of sax playing. Andy credits Charles with being an inspiration and mentor in his musical development.
Some of the musicians who have regularly joined Andy at Monday Night Jazz, beyond the musicians already mentioned, are, in no particular order, Benny “Fingers” Kohn, Conor Meehan, Jay Bradley, Luke Franco, Jason Ennis, Bob Ferrier, Darby Wolf, Ryan Hummel, Jeff Stevens, Steve Ide, Bobby McVeety, Miro Sprague, Makaya McCraven, Todd Reynolds, Marisa Massery, and Samirah Evans. The group he has particularly enjoyed recently has Andy joined by Kris Allen on sax, Peter McEachern on trombone, and George Schuller on drums. Andy said there have been so many musicians it’s hard to credit all of them but laughed when he noted there weren’t many bass players on the list.
An aspect of leading Monday Night Jazz that Andy has particularly enjoyed is bringing musicians together, especially if they’d never met before. Many of those musicians who found they enjoyed playing with each other at Monday Night Jazz ended up playing together regularly. Because family is so important to Andy, he said, “It was a beautiful thing when family members played together”. Charles Neville’s son Khalif would sit in occasionally on piano. Ryan Hummel and his dad Rich played together. Even Andy’s dad Eddie would join Andy on squeezebox for the annual holiday season tradition of “A Very Wrba Christmas” at Mission. The husband-and-wife team of Jason Ennis and Natalia Bernal have joined Andy “in the window”.
“In the window” was a term coined at Mission because of the bandstand’s location in the front bay window looking out onto North Street. Because that end of North Street is on the edge of one of the grittier sections of Pittsfield and on the way to neighboring Berkshire Medical Center, screeching sirens and bright, flashing lights from passing fire trucks, ambulances and police cars were routine occurrences. Regular patrons and musicians alike became used to those interruptions until for many, they ceased being interruptions and were accepted as just part of the scene.
A part of the scene that will be sorely missed is its democracy. In one of the most politically Democratic regions of the country, small “d” democracy reigned at Mission both on the bandstand and in the crowd. It was a place where you’d rub elbows with both millionaires and the homeless and everyone got along. Andy and I recalled a time when a random guy appeared carrying a large, flat, black case and asked Andy if he could set up a stand for his washboard so he could sit in. I don’t think any of us had ever seen a washboard played on a stand before. Andy and his bandmates were intrigued and in the spirit of jazz democracy let him know it was fine. We watched with curiosity and anticipation as he sat down at his washboard stand and carefully placed empty shotgun shells over each of his fingers before treating everyone to outstanding New Orleans style washboard. Andy has kept a record of everyone who played at Monday Night Jazz and that phantom washboard player has been immortalized as Shotgun Shell Guy.
Mission’s closing is not a good look for Pittsfield as two historically iconic restaurants and neighbors on North Street will be shuttered within months of each other when Mission joins The Lantern as a darkened storefront. My attempts asking for a statement from Pittsfield’s Mayor Linda Tyer were not answered in time for this article.
So many people are affected by Mission’s closing, but the end of Monday Night Jazz has been particularly difficult for Andy. Monday Night Jazz was his baby, and he rarely missed a Monday night for almost 12 years, except when his kids were born, the time or two he was too sick to play, and during the height of the pandemic when Mission was forced to shut its doors. Not to worry, Andy is not about to become homeless as he’s plenty busy employed as Program Manager for Mill Town Capital, the current owner of Mission, and as Music Director at The Darrow School in Lebanon, N.Y.
It should be noted, Andy has used Monday Night Jazz as a teaching tool for some of his students at Darrow, occasionally having them attend the shows and at times sit in for a song or two. Emet Vitale-Penniman is one of those students. Emet is now a senior at Darrow and plays piano. He described what he termed, as “the greatest piano lesson he ever received in just one song.” That lesson took place when Emet was called up to the bandstand and sat alongside Benny Kohn, a master of the keyboard and teacher himself. While sitting next to each other on Benny’s piano bench, they took turns on the keyboard playing the melody while the other played chords on Roy Hargrove’s “Strasbourg / St. Denis”. Emet discovered up close why Benny has been given the moniker of Benny Fingers, and Emet is forever grateful for Benny’s invaluable tips on technique.
Mission will be sorely missed by Pittsfield, Berkshire County, and the world of jazz. Monday Night Jazz has made a significant cultural impact on all three and it’s hoped the “small, but mighty flame” described by Don Mikkelsen isn’t extinguished. As of this writing, no one I’ve talked to, including Andy, has any real idea how or if Monday Night Jazz at Mission can be replicated.
