Boots Ward was an American jazz drummer and jazz club owner. [1]
In the early 1920s, Ward was a member of Mamie Moffitt's Five Jazz Hounds, together with, among others, Harold Black on violin and banjo, John Byard (father of Jaki Byard) on trombone [2] and, occasionally Wendell Culley on trumpet. [3]
Following the breakup of the band, due to Moffitt's ill health, Ward went on the form the Nite Hawks, with Byard, Black, Culley, [3] and Freddie Bates on tenor sax, who would be joined, in 1929, by Howie Jefferson. [1]
Ward also ran the Nile Cafe, a jazz venue on Summer Street in Worcester. [1] Boots Ward's Nile Cafe is believed to have been the only jazz venue with an African American owner at the time. [1]