James Klein, quiet pillar of Minneapolis music, dies at 74

He was quiet and calm, especially for a boss in the music business. No screaming, no backbiting, no problem that couldn’t be solved. Nothing seemed to ruffle James Klein.

He hired the bands that turned Bunker’s into one of Minneapolis’ greatest music spots for nearly 50 years, and he co-managed teen sensation Jonny Lang for a decade, making it all the way to the White House and the Grammy Awards.

Klein, an unassuming pillar of the Twin Cities music business, died Feb. 3 of cancer at his brother-in-law’s home in Edina. He was 74.

Klein was part of a triumvirate that ran Bunker’s Music Bar and Grill in Minneapolis’ North Loop along with his wife, owner Jackie Kelly, and his brother-in-law, general manager Jimmy Hefferan.

“Alongside Jackie and Jimmy, James gave me, and countless other musicians, a safe place to simply be ourselves,” said Twin Cities blues-rocker Shannon Curfman. “He gave us a home.

“James took me under his wing and offered me a weekly house gig when I was 12 years old,” continued Curfman, now 40, who, like Klein, was originally from Fargo. “Within months, I was signed to Arista Records. Without that opportunity — and the weekly chance to learn by watching bands like Dr. Mambo’s Combo, the TC Jammers, and Mick Sterling & the Stud Brothers — my life would be unrecognizable today.”

Sterling, one of the Twin Cities top barroom forces for four decades, feels that Klein “completely changed my life” by giving the Stud Brothers a weekly gig back in 1988 that lasted for 15 years.

“He was an innovator in this town,” the singer said, referring to Klein’s strategy of presenting house bands on Sunday through Thursday and a rotation of regional and national acts on the weekends.

Klein, an aspiring architect who opted for drums instead, played with the Unbelievable Uglies from 1972-79 before that band evolved into the Michael James Band, named for singer Michael Bullock and co-leader/manager James Klein.

After many gigs in the Twin Cities, the North Dakota native settled in Minnesota. His band broke up in ’85, and he became a booking agent (Bobby Vee, Gene Pitney) and then moved into management (Molly & the Heymakers, Big Guitars From Memphis).

Through his gigs at Bunker’s, Klein got to know Kelly, a widow whose husband had opened the club in 1976. Klein began booking the place at 761 Washington Av. N. in 1987.

Dr. Mambo’s Combo was already a regular, but Klein went on to tap such other house bands as G.B. Leighton and the TC Jammers as well as more recently Jay Bee & the Routine and Dylan Salfer.

In 1994, Klein formed Blue Sky Artists Worldwide with Miki Mulvehill, who was booking the Blues Saloon in St. Paul. Together, they worked on the careers of Luther Allison, Double Trouble, Susan Tedeschi, Bernard Allison and Lang.

The co-managers didn’t define their roles, according to Mulvehill, the extroverted half of the team that had an office above Bunker’s.

“We knew our strengths,” she said. “He was very steady, easygoing. He had a strong sense of how far artists could go. He knew who had ‘it.’ He had a really good ear. You never lose that gift.

“It wasn’t about the money, per se. Let’s be with people we really like who have a lot of talent.”

Blue Sky had a creditable 11-year run, with Tedeschi getting her career off the ground and Lang enjoying worldwide success, performing on “The Tonight Show,” winning a Grammy and singing at the White House.

“He just enjoyed the music,” said Hefferan, who grew closer to Klein in the last 10 months during convalescence at his house.

“He was always quite a shopper. He’d buy stuff online. He’s a hat guy and a shoe guy and a clothing guy. And he loved boating.”

From business associates to musicians, everyone agreed that Klein was a low-key guy.

“He was very quiet, very confident, not a man to very get excited about things but he knew what he wanted,” Sterling said. “He was not one of those hotheads, the antithesis of Led Zeppelin’s manager.”

For five years at the turn of the century, Klein and the Bunker’s staff made arrangements with the city to close off several blocks on Washington Avenue N. so Sterling could stage the Heart & Soul festival, a fundraiser for Camp Heartland for kids with AIDS.

Longtime Twin Cities drummer Bobby Vandell of the TC Jammers and other groups valued long conversations with Klein, especially in recent years.

“He was a smart guy, very insightful, very intuitive,” Vandell said. “You could always learn something from him.”

The drummer added that Klein and the Bunker’s administration were generous and fair, a trait not always true with club owners.

“They’d give substantial Christmas bonuses to every house band, a wonderful card with a bunch of cash in it. It was unheard of in the business for any club owner to do that,” Vandell said. “I watched them treat every band — and every employee, bartenders, bouncers — with respect. There was just a really good vibe at Bunker’s because they are just plain good people.”

Klein is survived by his wife of 32 years, Jackie, and several siblings.