After 35 years, Bob Corritore leaves Phoenix's Rhythm Room with a 'perfectly scripted end'

LAUREN GILGER: The Phoenix music world is losing an institution. The Rhythm Room, which has been a stage for the blues in the Valley for more than three decades, will close its doors in May after one last rockin’ season.

Owner Bob Corritore announced his plans to close the legendary venue this summer and was met with an outpouring of love for it. But he told me he’s been planning his exit and the end of the Rhythm Room for a long time. It will close after 35 years and the year he turns 70. He’s ready for a new chapter.

Corritore is not just a venue owner; he is an internationally renowned, Grammy-nominated harmonica player. And if you tune in to KJZZ religiously on Sunday nights like I do, you know he is the longtime host of Those Lowdown Blues.

And he’s going to keep doing all of that. He came into our studios recently to talk to me more about this decision, and we began with where the Rhythm Room began before he was ever involved in it: in an old Phoenix bar called the Purple Turtle. And it’s today’s deep dive.

BOB CORRITORE: The very first gig I ever booked in Phoenix was at the Purple Turtle. Louisiana Red had come into Phoenix and was staying with me, and I booked Louisiana Red and myself to play at the Purple Turtle, and that became kind of a regular gig for us.

So, it was just a nice little bar, and we always had a fun time playing there. Little did I know that years later I would become the owner of that particular venue.

LAUREN GILGER: Right, so talk about that. When was it when you took over and made this kind of a standalone club?

BOB CORRITORE: It all happened in 1991. I got a phone call from the guy that owned the property, that was the landlord for the Purple Turtle and a couple of subsequent small businesses that came and went, and he says, “Bob, I’m very familiar with your work, and I would like to talk to you about doing something I probably shouldn’t do, but I’m thinking about opening a blues club on this property. Would you help me develop that business?”

So, next thing you know, I went from being a musician to becoming a club person. I had already done some bookings and things over at Chuy’s and some things over at the Mason Jar before that, where I’d bring in some of the blues acts that I loved and found places for them. So, I had a niche of doing that.

We came up with the name the Rhythm Room, we redesigned the room. We made it so the stage was right in the center of the room. We put various sections, a nice dance floor, all the things. Took out the kitchen so we’d have more space for people to just enjoy the music. Made it nothing but a music venue — no pool tables or darts or any of that other extracurricular stuff. It was all about music.

LAUREN GILGER: You’re here to listen to the bands play.

BOB CORRITORE: And people really responded to it. From the day that we opened, it seemed like it occupied something that was missing here in Phoenix. And so, it became kind of an overnight success, and I’m like, “OK, well, I guess I kind of have a handle on this.” So, it was a pretty fantastic experience. So, we opened the Rhythm Room on September 18th, 1991.

LAUREN GILGER: What was the first show?

BOB CORRITORE: The first show was Big Pete Pearson. That was on a Wednesday. Second night was Junior Watson, Lynwood Slim and then we had Chico Chism on Friday and Saturday.

And we started booking some of the national acts: Jessie Mae Hemphill, John Hammond, Charlie Musselwhite, a lot of these really cool acts. Next thing you know, we were the stop. I kind of figured that we would be anyway, because there’s a lot of bands that were touring. At that time, gas was cheaper, bands were still going in vans to various locations, and there were enough clubs in every town that they could basically dot their routing going from one place to the other.

So, somebody was heading to California or some Californians were heading out East or whatever, and they needed a stop, and the Rhythm Room became the stop.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, so you got lots of amazing acts through.

BOB CORRITORE: Right. And on top of that, I was really keyed into the blues, so I knew all the people, and we quickly had the reputation of “the stop” for blues and some of the roots rockabilly and some of the jazz things that we were embracing. So, it really worked.

LAUREN GILGER: I mean, so let me ask you: 1991, the Rhythm Room is, you know, it’s hot, you’re opening in this city that’s kind of up-and-coming, very different from the Phoenix of today. You’ve been there 35 years. I mean, one of the things I think that’s notable about the Rhythm Room is that it hasn’t changed that much in that time, right?

BOB CORRITORE: For better or for worse, yeah.

LAUREN GILGER: As the city has changed massively.

BOB CORRITORE: Well, it has changed a lot, but you know, I think everything grows. Of course, the population has grown quite a bit, different businesses have come and gone. We’ve just been who we’ve been, and that’s just who we are, so I don’t really want to change.

Jean Clare Sarmiento/KJZZ

LAUREN GILGER: So, I mean, lots of reaction to your decision, your announcement to close the Rhythm Room, lots of memories coming forth. Let me ask you about your favorite memories, right? I’m sure you’ve been having a lot of these conversations with people over the last couple of weeks since you made this announcement, but what’s top of mind for you?

BOB CORRITORE: There’s so many, it’d be really impossible to pinpoint. I mean, I could just list tons of amazing shows that have moved me to my core.

But I think when we were able to book Jimmy Rogers, who was like one of my heroes, having him come and become a good friend, and he would make a regular stop at the Rhythm Room, and that was just something that was seriously a dream come true. And in our Rhythm Room mural, Jimmy Rogers is one of the characters on our wall, you know, so...

But I used to listen to that record — his record “Chicago Bound” — and dream about it at night in high school. And so that was how important that record was, and to have him come to my club, and for us to — I knew him a little bit from Chicago, but yeah, we became really good friends and sat together, and I always bought him a Cognac and enjoyed some laughs and smiles with him. But it was a great experience.

LAUREN GILGER: What about some moments you’ve had on the stage there? Because you play still, obviously.

BOB CORRITORE: Well, I got to play with Jimmy. I got to play a lot with Pinetop Perkins and Henry Gray. I’m working now with Jimi PrimeTime Smith and Carla Denise, and we play once a month at the Rhythm Room, and we have a blast getting together.

And there’s nothing better than getting on your stage that you’re comfortable with, with your amp, in a room that’s filled with your friends and fans, and just to play your heart out to all those people, and to have an audience that comes out regularly to see that.

So of all the things that I’m going to miss, that’ll be the thing I miss the most.

LAUREN GILGER: It’s almost the regularity of it that you’ll miss, like the place to be and the people who come.

BOB CORRITORE: Yeah, the Rhythm Room has definitely been part of my self-image, and so in the process — and I had been planning on this retirement for a while. I wanted to retire at age 70, and this — it just felt like the right time to make the announcement, and to have a final season, and to make it a celebration.

And I think every story has to have a beginning and an end, and I think 35 years is a perfect time. I’ll be 70 years old, and it just feels like the right time to say, “OK, this was a fantastic chapter. Let’s open up the next chapter.”

So, I’m happy about that, but in the process of getting ready for that, I went through different stages of grief.

LAUREN GILGER: You’ve known 70 was coming for some time here, OK.

BOB CORRITORE: I was like, “Oh, what am I going to do without this part of me?” It’s like one of my appendages.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, absolutely. You said your self-image is wrapped up in this place, right? Like people know you for this place and for being the Phoenix institution that’s part of this Phoenix institution.

BOB CORRITORE: Well, and it’s been an honor to be that to Phoenix, to be a place where people gather. So many people have said, “Oh, I met my husband” or “I met my wife here,” “I saw this great show here,” “This moment in time changed my life.”

People have come in and I’ve maybe had in-depth conversations with them at tough times in their life, and then five years later, they come and say, “Bob, remember that time that you sat down and talked with me?” You know, it’s nice when you can make a difference. And to have a place where people gather is a very powerful thing. I’m going to miss that a lot.

But at the same time, I’m working like five jobs right now! Between the radio show, the nightclub, I produce records, I’m a touring musician — and in the last couple decades, I’ve really gotten into education. I’ve been giving harmonica lessons, and the last couple of years, I was the harmonica instructor over at the Pinetop Perkins Workshop Experience, which happens in Clarksdale (Mississippi) each year.

So, a lot of things are going on. I’m going, “OK, can I really deal in my 70s with the complete frantic multitasking that happens every day at the Rhythm Room?” It’s pure chaos! Which I love, but at the same time, it’s probably not the pace I want to have to maintain. It’s a younger man’s game.

LAUREN GILGER: I mean, yes, in a way, and no one would fault you for that, right? Like, it’s OK to close the door and to open a new chapter in your life and semi-retire at least from five jobs to four jobs, right?

But what do you think about like the loss of this place for Phoenix? I mean, what do you think will be lost for this city?

BOB CORRITORE: Well, nobody will run it the way I ran it. But maybe somebody will take that concept and roll with it. I think those same bands are going to need to come through Phoenix, and I’ll redirect them to whatever the next venue is that would want to have that.

I think that it will go on, and it’s too strong of a music to ever die. And I also, I plan on still bringing some things in. It might be that I’ll rent another venue or small theater and bring in some of my special shows. I won’t be doing it on the daily basis I’m doing it now, but I plan on still bringing in some of the zingers.

LAUREN GILGER: So, I mean, you’re hoping to be able to continue having that kind of presence in the city, right? And I know you’re going to still be here on KJZZ hosting Those Lowdown Blues, you’re still going to play music, all these things that you’ll still be doing. What do you hope for the venue itself? Are there plans for that particular space, that building?

BOB CORRITORE: Well, right now, everything’s kind of up in the air, but I am in talks with somebody who is a developer. And people go, “Oh no, that room is iconic,” which it is. And I feel kind of bad about it.

But right now everything’s up in the air, Lauren, so I can’t really say which way it’s going to go. I think that it’s just fair to say that wherever this takes me, I’m open to it.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. And it sounds like you’re OK if this is the final chapter for the Rhythm Room.

BOB CORRITORE: Oh yeah, I mean 35 years, I’ve done so much there, I don’t think I have anything left to prove, but at the same time, there’s always more to do. But I think I could probably accomplish some of those things that are yet to do, but without having to have the complete responsibility and the pace of running a nightclub.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. So let me ask you about a couple of things. What about the door of the Rhythm Room, right? Like people are going to want that! Where are you going to put that? That’s got to go to a museum somewhere! All the stickers!

BOB CORRITORE: That’s true. You know, I hadn’t really thought about that, but that is a good point. But I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to put that in storage, because that front door is like famous for its weathered stickers, you know.

LAUREN GILGER: Yes, it is! How many years of stickers and layers of stickers on that door?

BOB CORRITORE: Layers of stickers, yeah. It’s like if you go down a few layers, you’re like, “Oh, there’s that great band under these other three great bands!” So it’s kind of amazing if you look at it that way, too.

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so final question for you then, Bob. What do you want — not your legacy, because you’re not done — but what do you want the legacy of the Rhythm Room to be in this city?

BOB CORRITORE: Well, it already is what it is. It’s a place where so much great music has been played, history has been made, live recordings have been made there, memorable shows that have literally just fed people’s souls.

That’s the legacy. It’s my offering to the city, and I’m proud of that. I feel like I was able to make a difference. And if you’ll let me, I’d like to have a different stage in my life now. So, I just really enjoyed the ride, but I feel like we’re leaving with a perfectly scripted end.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. All right. Well, Bob Corritore, thank you so much, and congratulations on this new phase.

BOB CORRITORE: Thank you.