Sun 3/29 @ 5PM (doors 3:30)
While much of the focus in Cleveland has been on rock & roll, Leo’s Casino played a seminal role in Cleveland’s Black music scene. From 1952 through 1972, it was THE gathering place for fans of jazz, R&B, funk and soul music. It was first located at East 49th and Central; after that location burned down in 1963, it re-established itself at 7500 Euclid Avenue, where it became a regular stop for acts such as Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie. And while the music was mostly Black, but the audience was integrated.
The Leo’s Casino Arts & Music Collaboratory has a mission to keep the spirit of Leo’s Casino alive, describing itself as “a cultural hub, created to be a resource platform for the creative arts, community wealth building strategies and social and economic development for, by, and with community partners and affiliates.”…