Kenny Dorham's Backyard

06/20/2026

Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when news of emancipation reached the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.

For many years, Austin’s annual Juneteenth parade has travelled down E. 11th St., a historic corridor of thriving black life, culture, art and business in East Austin, passing directly in front of the Victory Grill and Kenny Dorham’s Backyard.

This week’s parade took a different route. Why? Because 11th St. has been blocked off to begin the removal of this beloved community painted mural, “Black Artists Matter”, at the mandate of our state government.

The mural was created in June 2020 by over 70 East Austin community volunteers organized by Capitol View Arts and Austin Justice Coalition, with local Black artists, Melissa Adams, Ariel Marlowe, Lorenzo Dey, Laken Wilson and many more creating murals that honor this history.

“For over nine years, Capitol View Arts has worked with urban artists, particularly in East Austin neighborhoods. In a city where the black population is overlooked, our purpose through this mural is to show continued support and acknowledgment of black artists and their contribution to Austin’s legacy and character,” said Clifford Gillard, founder and president of Capitol View Arts.

This erasure of visible Black culture from East Austin highlights the importance of history, communication, unity and freedom as we celebrate Juneteenth and commemorate the end of enslavement.

In the words of Opal Lee, the grandmother of this holiday, “If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love. But we need to know, you can’t erase history. So let’s learn from it and be damned sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Images: Lola Gomez Jay Janner

06/19/2026

06/19/2026

Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when news of emancipation reached the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.

For many years, Austin’s annual Juneteenth parade has travelled down E. 11th St., a historic corridor of thriving black life, culture, art and business in East Austin, passing directly in front of the Victory Grill and Kenny Dorham’s Backyard.

Today, the parade took a different route. Why? Because 11th St. has been blocked off to begin the removal of this beloved community painted mural, “Black Artists Matter”, at the mandate of our state government.

The mural was created in June 2020 by over 70 East Austin community volunteers organized by Capitol View Arts and Austin Justice Coalition , with local Black artists, Melissa Adams, Ariel Marlowe, Lorenzo Dey, Laken Wilson and many more creating murals that honor this history.

“For over nine years, Capitol View Arts has worked with urban artists, particularly in East Austin neighborhoods. In a city where the black population is overlooked, our purpose through this mural is to show continued support and acknowledgment of black artists and their contribution to Austin’s legacy and character,” said Clifford Gillard, founder and president of Capitol View Arts.

This erasure of visible Black culture from East Austin highlights the importance of history, communication, unity and freedom as we celebrate Juneteenth and commemorate the end of enslavement.

In the words of Opal Lee, the grandmother of this holiday, “If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love. But we need to know, you can’t erase history. So let’s learn from it and be damned sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Images: Lola Gomez Jay Janner

06/18/2026

Check it!

06/18/2026

TOMORROW, THURSDAY, JUNE 18th, 7:30-10PM! Join us for D.A. Greene’s Shades of Blue private backyard jam session this week - Bring your instrument and make some music with us on stage as we kick off Juneteenth weekend!!

The Doctor Reverend drummer of our house band, Assorted Chocolates, is bringing a brand new Audio Therapy experience to the Backyard with the sneak preview of his latest beat tape, designed to inspire, motivate and heal through rhythm!

06/15/2026

🎶 BLUESTEENTH HAS ARRIVED 🎶

🎸 June 15th & Every Monday night at KDBY
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Show 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍 1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

This week we recognize the history of Juneteenth by honoring those who came before us!

Join us tonight to celebrate freedom, heritage, communication and cultural expression at Blue Monday, a community tradition hosted by the Assorted Chocolates featuring Ivan Wallace on guitar and vocals, Willie on guitar, Damien Greene on drums, Trevor Villwock on keys, Vincent Limon on sax and Harold McMillan on bass!

Martin “Bubba” Banks was a Jazz Giant, trumpet and flugelhorn player, saltwater fisherman and sage philosopher.

Banks was raised by musicians in East Austin, particularly his father Martin Banks Sr. and aunt Mae Alice Mays, and like many professional musicians, graduated from L.C. Anderson and played with the Yellow Jacket band and Director B.L. Joyce.

In the fifties, he travelled to San Francisco with his uncle, La Rue Mays, to start his career as a trumpeter and attended college. Here he frequented a popular club that hosted legendary musicians, where he made his recording debut with Booker Ervin and joined bands led by Cannonball Adderly, Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Ray Charles picked him up to play in NYC, then Berry Gordy brought him on the Motown Circuit, and soon he swapped gigs with fellow Austinite, Gil Asky, joining the house band at the Apollo Theater for seven years. He shared the stage with The Supremes, James Brown, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Sun Ra, Randy Weston, and Austin legends like Gene Ramey and Teddy Wilson. He was even roommates with Kenny Dorham and Marvin Gaye.

He ultimately moved back home to be with family, but kept up with regular gigs around town, uplifting a new generation of artists and bearing the musical standard of the Eastside!

“everythang is everythang… ya dig?”

Photo credit: Martin Banks performing at the “I’ll Be Home for Kwanzaa” Holiday concert and album recording at Top of the Marc, Katz Deli, photography contact sheet by Brenda Ladd (1997).

Sponsored and produced by East Austin Creative Coalition

06/08/2026

🎶 BLUE MONDAY REMEMBERS WHAT CAME BEFORE 🎶

🎸 Every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Show 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍 1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

Join us this Monday night to celebrate the history of East Austin! The Blue Monday Blues Jam is a generations-old tradition of sharing in the gift of music. Everyone is welcome - players, singers, and dancers alike! Bring your instrument!

Blue Monday is hosted by the with .wallace710 on vocals and guitar, on guitar, on drums, on keys, on sax, and on bass!

This week we’re offering flowers to Margaret Wright. In the words of Johnny LaTouf, owner of the Skylark Lounge, “Margaret Wright represents the very soul of East Austin with every word she sings and every touch of the ivory keys on that old piano.”

Margaret was a native East Austinite who grew up playing piano with her mother and in church. After graduating from Huston Tillotson, she worked for many years as a teacher at local Elementary schools, often breaking historic barriers of segregation, before going on to establish herself as a talented local solo pianist. Margaret possessed a sincere maternal love for the East Austin music scene, generously sharing her work with other rhythm section players, jam session musicians and her enraptured congregation.

Most of her shows had no setlist, instead she pulled songs from memory, reveling in the spontaneity of each night. Driven by connecting with the hearts and souls of the nightlife crowd, she once described, “To me, music is a feeling. If you have a talent, whatever your talent is, like an artist or anybody else who creates stuff, you want to do it to make it more personable.”

(cont’d below)

06/05/2026

Check out Charm School Vintage if you want some Eastside style!

06/01/2026

🎶 TEXAS BLUES REUNION! KEEP THE HISTORY ALIVE AT BLUE MONDAY TONIGHT! 🎶

🎸 Every Monday night at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
⏰ Doors at 7:17PM | Show 7:45-8:15PM | Jam 8:15–10PM
📍1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

Happy Black Music History Month!! Join us tonight at Blue Monday Blues Jam and help carry this tradition of Blues fellowship into the future of East Austin! To celebrate this month, we are sharing the documentary project, TEXAS BLUES REUNION, one of the few living records of East Austin’s African American cultural heritage.

A historic reunion concert was held on Juneteenth, 1987, at the Victory Grill on East 11th St. Some of the greates Blues musicians, including B.B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland, who had played there decades earlier gathered and shared their stories of the scene.

Event and video was conceived of and produced by Tary Owens. Scriptwriter and interviewer was Martha Hartzog. Paul Congo directed and edited the video production.

Blue Monday Blues Jam is how we honor the history, uplift the creative originators, and ensure the African American cultural memory of East Austin is carried onward with the next generation of creatives.

Harold McMillan brought this memory back to the forefront in a facebook post this past week and offered his insight...

“Believe or not, austin blues used to be Black. and it lived at the Victory Grill on E. 11th St....and at Sam’s Showcase, the IL Club, Charlies Playhouse, Ernie’s Chicken Shack and several other joints that were gentrified out of existence.

so, you say you’re part of the austin blues tradition and your knowledge only goes back to Clifford Antone (whom I loved as a person and for the work he did), you’re missing the point and you don’t really know where you are.

if Clifford were alive today, he would tell you where he found his early local blues players—before he brought folks from Oak Cliff, West Texas, Louisiana, and Chicago. and he could tell you this history his own self. educate yourself. know where TF you is at.”

- H

05/28/2026

Don’t miss the Freedom Jazz Mo’tet’s return to the Kenny Dorham's stage tonight!

⏰ Doors at 7:30PM
🪐8PM - &
🌊9PM - Freedom Jazz Mo’tet
📍1106 E 11th St | Austin, TX | 78702

🍺 BYOB / 🥃 BYOL
🌭 Hippie Picnic & Hippie Ice food trucks onsite
🥤 Water & soft drinks available
🎟️ $5+ Suggested Donation

Event: Freedom Jazz Mo'tet

Sponsored and Produced by East Austin Creative Coalition

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is an outdoor music venue and event space featuring food trailers, community gardens, and art that honors East Austin’s rich cultural history. The venue is named after the legendary jazz trumpeter who once lived in the East Austin neighborhood.