In 1951, Brando was back with another club called the Brown Derby, at 1358 Boylston Street in the Fenway. This one lasted well into the 1960s. She started with jazz, and a lot of it. Serge Chaloff had a long residence, as did J.C. Higginbotham, but it was alto saxophonist Tom Kennedy who was the star here. His band, the Fabulous Four, started at the Brown Derby in October 1955 and played until spring 1963. Well-known local jazzmen played with Kennedy at the Brown Derby: pianists Rudy Riley and Ernie Trotman; bassist Jim Clark; and drummers Harold Layne and Harold Ford.
It’s not clear when Brando left this club, either, but by 1967 it was called simply the Derby and offered folk music. There’s no record of her starting another club in Boston, but she might have done so in Florida. Nonetheless, she was a pioneer, a woman running a Boston nightclub at a time when all the club owners–all of them–were white men. Hats off for that.