In the late 90's I had a house gig in Aspen, Colorado, and sometimes I'd drop by the Jerome Hotel to "practice in public" on a piano they had in the back area. One day I showed up and couldn't play because they had a concert going on in the room next to the piano and I stood outside the door for the next hour listening to a guy jamming with walking bass in the left hand and amazing lines in the right hand. When the show was over I hung out until I could talk to him. Turned out it was Dave McKenna. I mentioned that I was a pianist and he asked me: "Are you playing?" I shrugged and said yes, but only at a hotel, and he said, "So your playing then?" I said yes and he said, "Good, keep it up." I got him to sign my sheetmusic notebook and that was it, but what really left a mark was his insistence in the idea of gigging as being the real measure of success for a musician. "Are you playing? Good."
A few pianists who are personally, just so appealing to me... Bill Evans, Monk, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, and Rhode Island's Dave McKenna. All of these players had totally different concepts, approached the instrument differently, but each was a brilliant artist in his own way. Dave put a lot of bassists and rhythm guitarists out of business!!! Of course I am joking here, but he truly was a rhythm section within himself! He played with such humor and heart. He was a spectacular musician.
He was one of the most marvelous musicians who ever lived or who ever will live because he played straight from the heart and he gave all of his heart to every note- and that coupled with his fantastic and infallible ear for harmony, melody, straight ahead and improvised, and rhythm, made his music speak deeply to every atom in every ones soul. To hear that man play from the heart is the greatest gift and blessing from God to all the lucky souls that heard him play live as I did.
I had the pleasure of recording Dave along with Dick Johnson in the mid 90's. I had been a fan of Dave's for many years and during frequent smoke breaks I tried to get him to talk about himself, especially about musical and pianistic matters, but he didn't have anything revealing to say. I got the impression that Dave didn't think of himself as anyone special. And that, of course, is special in itself, considering his enormous talent. RIP Dave.
I went to hear him play in Boston at the Copley Hotel when I was in college and he was the most gracious and modest person. I was starstruck of course.
Words so often get thrown around like "artisty," and "genius" without regard to their true meaning. Well, Dave McKenna embodied these words, and their ideal, without meaning to. He is like an accidental artist, stumbling upon something great, whether he wants to or not, and letting the rest of us catch up to his brilliance.
Along with this sense of modesty was a man that suffered fools lightly. One afternoon playing in a New York City dinner club, a loud group right next to the piano blabbed their social inanities without the slightest recognition of how great the piano playing was right next to them. I asked Dave Mckenna during the intermission about how he felt about that group of fools and he simply responded by asking me "You mean the talkers"? Then he went on to say not one more word about it.
What a consistently stylish player this man was - never a note out of place and such SWING it warms my heart every time I hear him playing. He is sorely missed.
Dave Mckenna was a fiercely modest person. I was in the Copley Plaza hotel lounge listening to him play when a man with some sense of self-importance strode up to the piano and told Mckenna that he had heard him perform at some function or other and that he thought that Dave was great. Daves response was "Yeh, it was raining cats and dogs that night".
That description of Dave looking and acting like a truck driver is so true! When he came into the club that night, I was greeting and seating people and I booked the club. I said "May I help you sir?" and he brushed right past me. Imagine his surprise when I was the singer on the gig!
Anyone with a scintilla of a musical brain in their head would have admired Daves playing and Oscar Peterson had far far more than a scant musical brain. He was himself at his best a very great musician and piano player and he must have known that not even himself nor Tatum nor anyone else in the entire world have been able to create that marvelous music world of Dave Mckenna because simply speaking, he created his own great art of piano playing and it was and ever will be all his own.
Isn't it astounding that such absolute artistry come and goes on this planet. Thier here one day, leave so much beauty and gone the next! We are so lucky ( those of us that can hear it) to hear the magic of it all.
Well said. It's a complete disaster, that this playing, sensitive, and brilliant !, isn't being played everywhere. I despair, dear Dave, wonderful x x .
In the seventies, Dave worked with the Hanna-Fontana Band with Jake Hanna, Carl Fontana, Herb Ellis and more. I sang with them. They played at the Times Restaurant and Supper Club in Studio City California and the lines were around the block. Everyone came to see and hear them, including the great Bill Holman. Dave was such a lyrical player. I love this medley.
Jack , I agree............and i met him and shared a ring side table with him back in the late 70's...while hearing my best buddy, Rio Clemente perform at at the legendary jazz club in Schnectady, NY, called the Van Dyck! Amazing memory for me! Dave was quiet and so humble...I felt as though I was sitting with a "jazz God"! RIP dear Dave....no one could ever play like you....and your version of "Ill Wind" will haunt me forever!
Yeah!. Although he didn't jump this wide as classical stride pianist usually do. Maybe because of this "small" stride and the resulting gain of time he was able to put some bebop into his playing. His swing is absolutely hot!!! I do not know any comparable. A uniquie treasure! :-) Love him!
There is a famous story about Tatum saying that he could not get enough of Mckennas playing. When asked about this, Dave got angry and said that it was a totally unsubstantiated fairy tale. But after sitting in the lounge and hearing him play for ten hours and then to spend forty years hearing his recordings, I am certain that Tatum must have said that or something very much like that. Because the truth is that his performances are addictive and overwhelmingly beautiful
As I listned to Terry Gross' i988 interview with Dave this Thanksgiving day I had tears in my eyes. I don't tear up easily but I loved Dave's music and the man he was and I know we have lost a great American treasure. I am thankful for him having been here.
I heard this guy on the radio the other day with a female singer, but her name escapes me... It was more of a ragtime piano style he was playing on it, but I instantly fell in love with his playing. What an absolute genius and master of the piano.. Magnificent.
I once heard Dave at, I think, Hanratty's in Manhattan. At a break I repaired to the men's room, glanced over and there was the great man at the next urinal. I couldn't help glancing over to see if that left hand had just 5 fingers! Dave was the best. Wonderful to find these videos!
Thanks for your comments about my comments. I must tell you that he had much more than enormous talent. He had enormous accomplishment. One thing he could do was make the piano sound like a jazz band and all lof the instruments in it. He must have been playing with other instruments for a million hours to do that and even then, not many people could come even near to how well he pulled that off even if they had logged the time as he did.
thankfully, and surprisingly, there is a wealth of video of DM to pay tribute to his earthy swing. Really one of the greatest "unknown" pianists to grace the black and whites.
Damn!! Dave swings his ass off!! This guy is one of the best solo pianists ever. He's unbelievably talented and so in tune with all aspects of playing. I think even Art Tatum once said that Dave was one of the few "Complete packages"....I have to agree!
I must have been 10 or ll years old when my parents brought me to see David McKenna. I thought David was just a friend of theirs who played a little piano. Little did I know. I wish i could play with his clarity and brilliance.
rickcee......nice. I'll bet you made his night! How many times have GREAT pianist like Dave sat at night playing solo piano and people are talking over them.This is totally disgusting! I had the pleasure of sitting close by Marion Mcpartland one evening at a club in Disney World. There she was as always playing beautifully and people sitting at the bar, not listening but laughing and talking very loudly . Marion stopped playing and ask them to be quiet, and that others wanted to hear her play.
In the late 90's I had a house gig in Aspen, Colorado, and sometimes I'd drop by the Jerome Hotel to "practice in public" on a piano they had in the back area. One day I showed up and couldn't play because they had a concert going on in the room next to the piano and I stood outside the door for the next hour listening to a guy jamming with walking bass in the left hand and amazing lines in the right hand. When the show was over I hung out until I could talk to him. Turned out it was Dave McKenna. I mentioned that I was a pianist and he asked me: "Are you playing?" I shrugged and said yes, but only at a hotel, and he said, "So your playing then?" I said yes and he said, "Good, keep it up." I got him to sign my sheetmusic notebook and that was it, but what really left a mark was his insistence in the idea of gigging as being the real measure of success for a musician. "Are you playing? Good."
Scot Ranney great memory
A few pianists who are personally, just so appealing to me... Bill Evans, Monk, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, and Rhode Island's Dave McKenna. All of these players had totally different concepts, approached the instrument differently, but each was a brilliant artist in his own way. Dave put a lot of bassists and rhythm guitarists out of business!!! Of course I am joking here, but he truly was a rhythm section within himself! He played with such humor and heart. He was a spectacular musician.
He was one of the most marvelous musicians who ever lived or who ever will live because he played straight from the heart and he gave all of his heart to every note- and that coupled with his fantastic and infallible ear for harmony, melody, straight ahead and improvised, and rhythm, made his music speak deeply to every atom in every ones soul. To hear that man play from the heart is the greatest gift and blessing from God to all the lucky souls that heard him play live as I did.
I wish I could have said this myself !. Absolutely spot on. x x .
I had the pleasure of recording Dave along with Dick Johnson in the mid 90's. I had been a fan of Dave's for many years and during frequent smoke breaks I tried to get him to talk about himself, especially about musical and pianistic matters, but he didn't have anything revealing to say. I got the impression that Dave didn't think of himself as anyone special. And that, of course, is special in itself, considering his enormous talent. RIP Dave.
I went to hear him play in Boston at the Copley Hotel when I was in college and he was the most gracious and modest person. I was starstruck of course.
Without doubt one of the best solopianists with unique style in Jazz.
Words so often get thrown around like "artisty," and "genius" without regard to their true meaning. Well, Dave McKenna embodied these words, and their ideal, without meaning to. He is like an accidental artist, stumbling upon something great, whether he wants to or not, and letting the rest of us catch up to his brilliance.
Along with this sense of modesty was a man that suffered fools lightly. One afternoon playing in a New York City dinner club, a loud group right next to the piano blabbed their social inanities without the slightest recognition of how great the piano playing was right next to them. I asked Dave Mckenna during the intermission about how he felt about that group of fools and he simply responded by asking me "You mean the talkers"? Then he went on to say not one more word about it.
What a consistently stylish player this man was - never a note out of place and such SWING it warms my heart every time I hear him playing. He is sorely missed.
Dave Mckenna was a fiercely modest person. I was in the Copley Plaza hotel lounge listening to him play when a man with some sense of self-importance strode up to the piano and told Mckenna that he had heard him perform at some function or other and that he thought that Dave was great. Daves response was "Yeh, it was raining cats and dogs that night".
That description of Dave looking and acting like a truck driver is so true! When he came into the club that night, I was greeting and seating people and I booked the club. I said "May I help you sir?" and he brushed right past me. Imagine his surprise when I was the singer on the gig!
My Mother was a devout fan, she was so concerned when he started having trouble with his hands. Extraoardinary! I too am a fan, Bravo!
I'm seeing it, I'm hearing it, still can't figure out how he's doing it. What a fantastic player. And terribly underrated. Thanks for posting.
Scales and arppegios...
I cannot hear enough of Dave Mckenna's playing...........Thank you God for this wonderful soul!!
Anyone with a scintilla of a musical brain in their head would have admired Daves playing and Oscar Peterson had far far more than a scant musical brain. He was himself at his best a very great musician and piano player and he must have known that not even himself nor Tatum nor anyone else in the entire world have been able to create that marvelous music world of Dave Mckenna because simply speaking, he created his own great art of piano playing and it was and ever will be all his own.
Isn't it astounding that such absolute artistry come and goes on this planet. Thier here one day, leave so much beauty and gone the next! We are so lucky ( those of us that can hear it) to hear the magic of it all.
Well said. It's a complete disaster, that this playing, sensitive, and brilliant !, isn't being played everywhere. I despair,
dear Dave, wonderful x x .
In the seventies, Dave worked with the Hanna-Fontana Band with Jake Hanna, Carl Fontana, Herb Ellis and more. I sang with them. They played at the Times Restaurant and Supper Club in Studio City California and the lines were around the block. Everyone came to see and hear them, including the great Bill Holman. Dave was such a lyrical player. I love this medley.
Jack , I agree............and i met him and shared a ring side table with him back in the late 70's...while hearing my best buddy, Rio Clemente perform at at the legendary jazz club in Schnectady, NY, called the Van Dyck! Amazing memory for me! Dave was quiet and so humble...I felt as though I was sitting with a "jazz God"! RIP dear Dave....no one could ever play like you....and your version of "Ill Wind" will haunt me forever!
McKenna had such great musical integrity. I love his sound, he swings like crazy and his conception is so clear and personal.
Yeah!. Although he didn't jump this wide as classical stride pianist usually do. Maybe because of this "small" stride and the resulting gain of time he was able to put some bebop into his playing. His swing is absolutely hot!!! I do not know any comparable. A uniquie treasure! :-) Love him!
There is one word that describes this video, and Dave's playing in general.
That word is:
Beautiful.
There is a famous story about Tatum saying that he could not get enough of Mckennas playing. When asked about this, Dave got angry and said that it was a totally unsubstantiated fairy tale. But after sitting in the lounge and hearing him play for ten hours and then to spend forty years hearing his recordings, I am certain that Tatum must have said that or something very much like that. Because the truth is that his performances are addictive and overwhelmingly beautiful
As I listned to Terry Gross' i988 interview with Dave this Thanksgiving day I had tears in my eyes. I don't tear up easily but I loved Dave's music and the man he was and I know we have lost a great American treasure. I am thankful for him having been here.
The entrance to I'm Old Fashioned is beautiful! Lovely playing by a master.
RIP, Dave.
What an exquisite man and musician. Thank you a thousand times, McKennaFan, for posting these wonderful videos.
I heard this guy on the radio the other day with a female singer, but her name escapes me... It was more of a ragtime piano style he was playing on it, but I instantly fell in love with his playing.
What an absolute genius and master of the piano.. Magnificent.
How many bass players do you need to screw in a lightbulb? None, Dave McKenna can do it with his left hand!
I once heard Dave at, I think, Hanratty's in Manhattan. At a break I repaired to the men's room, glanced over and there was the great man at the next urinal. I couldn't help glancing over to see if that left hand had just 5 fingers! Dave was the best. Wonderful to find these videos!
A really Great Pianist who has given me much pleasure live & on record.
Thanks for your comments about my comments. I must tell you that he had much more than enormous talent. He had enormous accomplishment. One thing he could do was make the piano sound like a jazz band and all lof the instruments in it. He must have been playing with other instruments for a million hours to do that and even then, not many people could come even near to how well he pulled that off even if they had logged the time as he did.
I love this
thankfully, and surprisingly, there is a wealth of video of DM to pay tribute to his earthy swing.
Really one of the greatest "unknown" pianists to grace the black and whites.
WOW......Dave McKenna ! Absolutely marvelous..!. In that mind and in those fingers ....came miracles.
Damn!! Dave swings his ass off!! This guy is one of the best solo pianists ever. He's unbelievably talented and so in tune with all aspects of playing. I think even Art Tatum once said that Dave was one of the few "Complete packages"....I have to agree!
What an inspiration! Love his bass lines and the poppin' time feel - heard him live several times - AMAZING.
Fantastic. To be discovered.
I love Jazz piano. This cat had incredible style and technique on that instrument.
Dave McKenna, what a delight to listen to.
Gave me chills...thanks! What a pianist.
We know this giant well in New England.
bye dave.
i love your song! please keep it in heaven
You'd be hard pressed to find bass players that good.
Dave could have made a living just playing with left hand.
A piano genius, What sad news RIP
love how he easily slides into "I'm Old Fashioned"....remember the great Rita Hayworth/Fred Astaire film...?
muy buenooo
💜 at his usual "three-handed" best!
I must have been 10 or ll years old when my parents brought me to see David McKenna. I thought David was just a friend of theirs who played a little piano. Little did I know. I wish i could play with his clarity and brilliance.
We were good friends in Boston
The rest of us are mere mortals.
rickcee......nice. I'll bet you made his night!
How many times have GREAT pianist like Dave sat at night playing solo piano and people are talking over them.This is totally disgusting! I had the pleasure of sitting close by Marion Mcpartland one evening at a club in Disney World. There she was as always playing beautifully and people sitting at the bar, not listening but laughing and talking very loudly . Marion stopped playing and ask them to be quiet, and that others wanted to hear her play.
Those
Copley days
...ha uno swing pazzesco
ソロで本領発揮するピアニスト～もっともズートの“ダウンホーム“が印象残る!～ﾃﾞｲヴ･ﾏｯｹﾝﾅ､もっと聴かれていい! #jazzm
My understanding is that Oscar Peterson also admired Dave's playing.
ENCHANTED
great version....also listen to Stan Getz's version and Tony Bennett's....
4:38 - 5:05 , fucking chops.