OGDEN, Utah -- Last Friday night a crowd of roughly a hundred gathered in the cold to dedicate a mural to 97-year-old jazz musician and local legend, Joe McQueen.
Amir Jackson, founder of the non-profit organization Nurture the Creative Mind, commissioned artist Brent Atwood to create the image, which hangs on the side of the Salty Creative building on 27th Steet, just east of Washington Boulevard.
At Joe's request, the mural also features the face of his friend Annabelle Weakley-Mattson, who died in 2008. Weakley-Mattson was the proprietor of the Porters and Waiters Club, an all-black establishment when Joe arrived in Ogden 71 years ago.
McQueen's talents afforded him opportunities to work in all-white clubs serving as entertainment, but his friends and family weren't allowed to enter as customers. Together, McQueen and Weakley-Mattson planned, hosted and entertained many of Ogden's first mixed business crowds at the Porters and Waiters Club.
Joe still leads the Joe McQueen Quartet, which frequently performs at venues across Utah.
