Piano Makes Grand Entrance at Acton Jazz Cafe

The local jazz and blues community got a big boost with the recent purchase of a refurbished Baldwin Grand piano at the , an acquisition made all the more meaningful because of those funding it—the café musicians themselves.

Acton Jazz Café owner Gwenn Vivian said the piano, built in 1912, found its home at the Great Road establishment after she learned that the Piano Mill in Hanover, Mass., had become the exclusive distributor of Baldwin pianos in the region, and decided to take a trip there.

“For years I’ve been dreaming of establishing a relationship with a major piano company,” said Vivian, adding that the piano already in place at the café was a beloved gift that will continue to be played—“but we were always hoping to have a first-class instrument here.”

While at the Piano Mill, Vivian looked at several new pianos, including a brand new, smaller Grand. But when she saw the 1912 Baldwin, it was love at first sight.

“It’s from an era of great American piano building that was centered in Cincinnati in the early 1900s,” she explained. “And it’s just stunning, the most beautiful piano I’ve ever seen.”

And though the new ones were slightly less expensive, “They had nothing near the rich sound or authentic touch of the one that we chose,” she said.

Coming up with funds to the tune of $12,000 would be challenging for many small business owners. But when Vivian reached out to the pianists who regularly perform at the Acton Jazz Cafe, which had its fifteenth anniversary this week, it wasn’t a hard sell—after all, she said, many of those musicians had long expressed interest in the café owning such a piano.

“Over time I would hear things like ‘If (we) could only get a first-class instrument, I’d contribute,’” Vivian said.

As such, some 30 pianists will contribute all or part of their personal earnings from the café’s Great Pianists series, proceeds that Vivian said should “definitely come close” to fully funding the new addition.

Molly Flannery, a pianist from Littleton who’s been performing at the café for more than 12 years, said she’s already played the new piano and that it has a “really beautiful tone.”

And as for turning over the proceeds from her performance in the concert series, scheduled for February, Flannery said she didn’t hesitate to agree.

“A lot of musicians love to play at the café because Gwenn is so supportive of us,” Flannery said. “We’re all just so excited that she cares enough to get a piano like that in there for us to play. It’s a pleasure to play a beautiful instrument like that—it makes a big difference.”