Chris Jordan

@ChrisFHJordan

There was an unwritten law in Asbury Park when Garry Tallent came to town in 1964.

The law was black musicians and white musicians didn’t play together. No one told Tallent about it when he moved with his family to Neptune City from Virginia.

“I moved in ‘64 and no one told me that there was an East Side and a West Side and never the twain shall meet,” said Tallent, the only white member of the West Side’s Little Melvin and the Invaders. “I always was a fan of black music and where I came from I played with black musicians and it didn’t make any sense to me not to.”

MORE: 'Break Time' for Garry Tallent

Saxophonist Clarence Clemons was in the Invaders. Tallent and Clemons would later be bandmates again in the E Street Band.

“Since I didn’t know any better and no one really told me, I wound up spending a lot of time on Springwood Avenue mainly because they had the best clothes and they had the best record store in the whole area and nobody ever hassled me,” Tallent said. “They made it sound like you don’t go down there. I went down there all the time and the people were just wonderful and I never had a bit of trouble.”

Tallent will come to Vintage Vinyl in the Fords section of Woodbridge on Sunday, April 24 for a Q&A and to sign autographs of his critically acclaimed new album, “Break Time.” Attendees must purchase a record to get in.

In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the West Side of Asbury Park on Springwood Avenue featured R&B vocal groups composed primarily of African-American members. Greats including city resident Lenny Welch, who had a number of chartbusters, including “Since I Fell for You” and “Ebb Tide;” Bobby Thomas, who would later join the Orioles of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; and the Broadways, who scored regional hits MGM Records and whose member Billy Brown would later became a million seller with the Moments and Ray, Goodman and Brown, were a part of the scene.

On the city’s boardwalk, it was beat groups composed primarily of white members playing rock 'n’ roll.

“I just wanted to play with the best musicians that I could be allowed to play with and learn from them and the color of their skin never occurred to me,” Tallent said.

In addition to Clemons, Tallent also met future E Street Band keyboardist David Sancious on the West Side. After a few years and several band configurations, Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band began to gel. In essence, it was a merging of the beat groups of the boardwalk and the vocal groups of the West Side of Asbury Park..

Despite thriving through the '60s, the West Side music scene came to an abrupt halt during the summer of 1970 when race riots tore apart Asbury Park and specifically Springwood Avenue. The clubs and stages, including Big Bill’s, the Turf Club and Cuba’s, were either burned down in the riots or demolished afterward. Much of Springwood Avenue is barren to this day.

The musical influence of the West Side was largely forgotten for 40 years until an article in the Asbury Park Press that reunited the West Side musicians of the '50s and '60s and led to an Asbury Park Historical Society panel discussion and tribute concert at the Wonder Bar in the spring of 2011.

Springsteen, Southside Johnny and other contemporary musicians attended the events in support for the West Siders.

MORE: A West Side of Asbury Park story

“The West Side guys had a strong influence on what became known as the Sound of Asbury Park,” Springsteen told the Asbury Park Press at the Wonder Bar.

Tallent had been there when it happened. He was also no stranger to maneuvering around the restrictions based on race that men place on themselves.

“When I was in Virginia, I went to a segregated school, there was still segregation in the South in the '50s,” said Tallent, 66. “The silly part of it all was after school, all the kids in the neighborhood would play together. We didn’t question it. We were just kids -- we didn’t know what that was all about.”

Chris Jordan: cjordan@app.com

WHAT: Garry Tallent “Break Time” Q&A and signing

WHEN: 2 p.m. Sunday, April 24

WHERE: Vintage Vinyl, 51 Lafayette Road, Fords

INFO: 732-225-7717; vvinyl.com