The Cozy Bar: A Home for Twin Cities R&B
The following was excerpted from the liner notes of our Twin Cities Funk & Soul compilation. Writers: Will Gilbert, Eric D. Foss, Danny Sigelman.
Cover image: Maurice McKinnies singing at The Cozy. Photo by Mike Zerby.
James T. Fuller Sr., known as Jimmy, started The Regal Tavern in the mid-1960s. It was located on 7th Street and Olson Memorial Highway in North Minneapolis and was often referred to as the “Bucket of Blood” because of the number of fights there. One of the regular performers at the Regal was Mojo Buford. In fact, Wilbur Cole says the bar was where he first met Mojo, Maynard Walker, Donald Breedlove, and other musicians. He bought a piano and that night he and a friend dragged it all the way from St. Paul to The Regal. Adding, by the end of the night, “I had been enjoying a drink or two and I fell off the stage and took the piano with me!” In the late 1960s, Jimmy Fuller moved his business to 522 Plymouth Ave North and upgraded the space, calling it The Cozy Bar. Throughout this period, the Regal Tavern and the Cozy Bar were among the few Black-owned bars in Minneapolis.
Steve Crowe playing bass with the Blazers at The Cozy Bar circa 1968 courtesy Minnesota Historical Society. Photo by Mike Zerby
Clubs like Jimmy Fuller’s were essential to local Black R&B groups. Maurice Jacox remembers, “The music scene in the Twin Cities was pretty much segregated; it was black and white and the two did not mix at all. So Black bands couldn’t get any work at any of the established clubs in town. Blacks played at places like the Blue Note and the Cozy; these were Black clubs. Incidentally, anyone was welcome, but when Blacks would go into white clubs, you were made to feel distinctly uncomfortable. Clubs tried to discourage Black people from coming in. But, for example, the Blue Note did have quite a bit of white regulars. Dave Moore would come down after doing the ten o’clock news to listen to jazz. These clubs were where real music and real players were.”
The Blazers live at The Cozy Bar August 1968. Left to right: Donald Breedlove, Maurice McKinnies, Edgar Murphy courtesy Edgar Murphy
The Cozy made a significant contribution by providing R&B bands with consistent work. Ronnie Scott from The Blazers recalled that everyone was playing the same songs, but “we were playing new songs from the radio and doing different things, and we became one of the regular bands.” Herman Jones from the Exciters saw “Jimmy Fuller as one of the leading Black businessmen in Minnesota.” Wilbur Cole added, “If we broke down on the road, we would call Jimmy and he would always be there for us.”
When Interstate 94 was being constructed, the city compensated Jimmy for the loss of the Cozy, and in 1980, at the age of 70, he started the Riverview Supper Club rather than retiring. The Riverview was located at 2314 West River Road, just across the Mississippi from the old Grain Belt Brewery. James T. Fuller Sr. died at the age of 89 on December 27, 1999, and the Riverview closed its doors forever on December 10, 2000.
The Cozy Bar late 60s courtesy Jimmy Fuller, Jr.
Gwen Matthews and Donald Breedlove at The Cozy Bar late 60s courtesy Edgar Murphy
Violent incidents became more frequent at the bar during the 1990s because of gangs. After a new law was enacted preventing off-duty police officers from acting as security guards in bars, it escalated further. James Fuller Jr. finally closed the bar after three of the club’s unarmed security guards were shot in the winter of 2000. Despite the actions of a few patrons, the clubs were longtime centers of the Black community in North Minneapolis.
Edgar Murphy (The Blazers) at the Cozy Bar circa 1968 courtesy Edgar Murphy