Miriam Moffitt

Miriam Moffitt (1884–1954), also known as Mamie Moffitt, was an American jazz pianist and band leader. In the 1920s, she started Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds, the first professional jazz group in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 2020, the Telegram & Gazette called Mamie Moffitt "Worcester's First Lady of Jazz".

Early life and education She was born Miriam Leona Seals in 1884, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Her maiden name was also spelled Seales. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Miriam Johnson Seals, who had once been enslaved. After Mamie Moffitt left, drummer Boots Ward started his own band, The Nite Hawks, which included Harold Black and John Byard. The Jazz History Database was established in 2001, after Rich Falco started researching the musical roots of Jaki Byard, who has been called “the most acclaimed and influential jazz musician to come out of Worcester”. When he was in high school, Jaki Byard wrote arrangements and occasionally played the piano for his father's band, The Nite Hawks, which had originally formed as an offshoot of Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds.