Piano man

Dave McKenna plays for the hometown crowd

by Don Fluckinger

Dave McKenna's not a multimillionaire. Although that might not be a good thing from his perspective, for jazz aficionados in New England it's great, because he's still working -- and we have the opportunity to see a piano legend working the clubs just as he's done since 1947, when he first gained recognition playing around Boston with a group led by saxman Boots Mussilli.

"Frankly, I'm a little tired," says the 66-year-old McKenna, who will be appearing at Chan's, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island in a solo performance on April 11 and on April 12 with guitarist Gray Sargent. "If I won the lottery, I would tell people I wouldn't play anymore. I'd take a gig now and then, yes, but I wouldn't work steady."

His performances are anything but tired. Playing licks in the classic style of progressive 1940s and '50s jazz -- favoring Tin Pan Alley standards -- the self-taught McKenna still cranks out the rhythm (with his legendary powerful left hand) in single-note lines, hard chords when the groove demands it, and on occasion stride stylings. In ballads, his melodically inventive right hand takes the fore. McKenna's played with a veritable who's who of jazz: Gene Krupa, Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Woody Herman, and Rosemary Clooney. And all that happened before the 1960s, during which he was a regular in the house band at Eddie Condon's famed club. The show with Sargent will be a display of excellent interplay: when Sargent solos, McKenna's playing -- providing the dynamic range of a whole backup band -- fits in well behind the guitarist's smooth swing style. When McKenna takes over and solos, Sargent strums and fills in a playful backing role.

They first played together about 15 years ago, McKenna says, in a sextet led by a Benny Goodman-type clarinetist. McKenna did it for fun on his day off from the Copley Square Hotel, where he was pianist-in-residence six nights a week.

"I heard Gray for the first time and I said, `Wow, they were right about this kid,'" he says. "He was still in his 20s then. . . . [Now,] we don't get that many gigs together. Sometimes we'll have a stretch in a couple of months where we play four-five gigs together, then, the way the business works, we don't see each other for a while. But whenever I get the chance, I play with Gray. He is so easy to work with. I love the guitar, always did, and he's got such a natural flair."

Sargent and McKenna recorded several records together for Concord Jazz, including a live duo performance in 1993 at the tiny Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley, California, also the site of a solo McKenna recording in 1989. They also played together on many trio and quartet albums for Concord, including the Gray Sargent Trio's Shades of Gray --where McKenna guests on five tracks. McKenna's monumental ability to cover the harmonic spectrum with just his two hands is perfect for the duo format, and he has recorded duo albums with saxman Dick Johnson, pianist Marian McPartland, violinist Joe Venuti, and in what is probably the first piano-baritone sax duo album in the history of jazz, last year's Sunbeam and Thundercloud with Scotsman Joe Temperley, who built his rep by playing with both Duke and Mercer Ellington. Together, Temperley and McKenna weave a deep, rich sonic tapestry on Ellington tunes such as "Sunset & the Mockingbird," "Black & Tan Fantasy," and "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart," as well as classics from the likes of George Gershwin and Billy Strayhorn.

That recording was the last attended by Concord Jazz founder Carl Jefferson, a one-time used-car salesman who built his jazz label in the 1970s from scratch with a fan's love of the genre. It became an outlet for older swing and bop musicians, as well as for younger players who chose to play more traditional styles. "I got to know him pretty well. I miss him, too," McKenna says of Jefferson, who died 10 days after the recordings were finished. "We all have our faults, and Carl could be testy at times and difficult, and we all can, but I really miss him. Concord was bought by New York guys, and I don't know what direction it's going to take. They seem nice enough."

Although McKenna made a name for himself in Boston and New York, he finds it surprising that he's not a big draw in his hometown of Woonsocket. "I remember when I first played there -- it was tinier than it is now, and I didn't fill the place," he says. "Then I worked there with Dick Johnson in a quartet, and we didn't fill the place, and then I worked there with [tenor sax player] Scott Hamilton, who was getting pretty big in Rhode Island, and we didn't fill it. I resented that, and still do. Woonsocket is not a jazz town. I can say that right out. Straight. You can print it."

But for locals who love jazz served up in the traditional way, it's a good thing that McKenna doesn't sell out every club he plays all of the time, because that means there will always be room for the real fans who can truly appreciate a local -- and international -- legend.

Dave McKenna performs at Chan's, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, on April 11 in a solo performance. Tickets are $10. On April 12, McKenna is joined by Gray Sargent. Tickets are $12. Both shows start at 8 p.m. For more information call (401) 765-1900.