Captain Hornblowers
Charles Daniel Knowles Sr., aka Captain Hornblower
by Ralph DePalma
Captain Hornblowers Jazz Club was located at 310 Front Street. Now a seafood restaurant.
The heyday of Key West’s jazz scene was from the late 1960s through the late 1980s. In 1977, Danny Knowles opened Captain Hornblower’s, a terrific jazz club in a setting right out of a Humphrey Bogart movie. It was located upstairs in what was then a ramshackle old building on Front Street (currently Yummy Crab restaurant). In the words of one of the musicians “just a bugle blow from the waterfront.” The music room was encircled on three sides by French doors opening onto a balcony amidst the tops of the surrounding palm trees, just like being in a tree house. It was a magical place.
In this storybook setting, club owner Knowles reigned supreme, filling the tropical nights with his signature flugelhorn along with many talented jazz musicians, like the terrific pianist Dave Burns and special bass player Lonnie Jacobson. Danny often visited Miami to hear Dave play and he convinced Dave to help open Captain Hornblower’s. Burns came down expecting to be a few months opening gig and, like many others, fell in love with Key West. He stayed for almost three decades.
Knowles was a big man with a big heart and a pair of lungs that one of his friends said, “could blow a horn with the strength of a Cat 5 hurricane and then temper it down to a warm tropical breeze.” In those days, one really could expect a local wild parrot to try and steal a potato chip out of your hand. When sitting outside, the breeze could also cause a palm frond to sweep your drink away.
The back room, where all the musicians camped out after the club was closed, was a huge clubhouse. The only illumination came from a few candles on a large round table in one corner of the room. In this smoke-filled room, a cast of local characters and jazz musicians discussed their music, new songs, and always a few new ideas. The discussion was usually held around a big ashtray surrounded by a forest of beer bottles and about a million stubbed out cigarette butts. Why the place didn’t burn to the ground is simply miraculous.
The jazz was always good. Danny would often sing along with the musicians. His favorite song was “Your Mind Is On Vacation” …but your moth is working overtime (published 1976 by Mose Allison). One unique song performed often by Danny was from the Muppets’ Kermit the Frog’s repertoire, “It Ain’t Easy Being Green”. Danny loved singing that song and in 1990, Goldie Hawn was filming the movie, Criss Cross in Key West and was planning to sing that song. She needed some vocal coaching and someone suggested pianist Dave Burns who had performed the song many times with Danny Knowles. Dave took a keyboard out to Jimmy Buffett’s boat where Goldie was staying while filming. He spent a few hours teaching Goldie the song – she nailed it. It’s still available on YouTube.
Danny Knowles in his favorite lair with his flugelhorn.
Captain Hornblower’s with Danny and his flugelhorn and his superb cast of jazz musicians in Key West along with many visiting jazz specialists, was the epicenter of the jazz scene in town until its closing in 1996 described below by former Key West musician, and sound engineer, Dan Simpson. (Reprinted with permission from Dan Simpson 11/1/96)
Last Night at Captain Hornblower’s Another End to Another Era
Dany Knowles loved to blow his fluglehorn at Captain Hornblowers.
The night is a bitter taste in my mouth as I head downtown. As I pass through Bayview Park on my bike, I look at the refurbished band pavilion with new understanding. Long an impromptu homeless shelter slated to be demolished, influential Conchs were able to have it rebuilt. It seems that it reminded them of the good old days. Tonight, I can really feel the pain of losing one more piece of Key West history, because tonight, Captain Hornblower’s is shutting down for good. It opened just months after I got here, 19 years ago.
Those of you who have only seen the place in its’ ragged last years may wonder why I mourn. Those who remember its’ 80s swaggering, smooth groovin, feverishly jammin good times and music understand. Surrounded by open air, treetops, and an oh-so-hip-party-til-dawn-and- further-on-weekends packed house, you were witness to the finest jazz players deep into their muse, and the febrile intrigues of a free and easy social scene. A sensual, tropical, music-and-humanity-soaked feast for the senses.
Tonight, is much different. There is virtually no audience, the band is on break, and the place seems to echo my depression…I just want to go home. But I stay for old times sake, nursing a beer and my sorrow, when suddenly the piano roars to life with the unmistakable energy of Dave Burns, Matsu and Lonnie jump in, and Danny Knowles, Captain Hornblower himself, is making his flugelhorn sing. Sometime during the set, I realize there is sadness here, but also the excitement of a new beginning in Panama City, the sudden freedom of ending an unworkable situation. I smooth out, feel a warm glow coming on. The music is good. Just like I remember.
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Dave Burns piano, Don Mast bass, and Captain Hornblower -Danny Knowles performing at the best jazz club in Key West at the time.
Danny Knowles moved to Panama City, FL. His enthusiasm for music never waned. Danny founded the Gulf Jazz Society and became a major sponsor of an annual Jazz by the Bay Festival. He passed peacefully at home in 2010 and his ashes were spread on nearby St. Andrews Bay and in the waters off Key West.
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