By Donald True Van Deusen
Any jazz fans seeking some post-July 4th fireworks will get their fill this
weekend with the always exciting tenor titan Bootsie Barnes at Ortlieb's
Jazz
Haus, 847 N. 3rd St., Philadelphia (215.922-2035). Sets go from 8:45 p.m. to
1:30 a.m. tonight and tomorrow night for a $6 cover.
Backing Bootsie in these sessions will be Duane Eubanks, trumpet; Bim
Strasberg, bass; Sid Simmons, piano and Byron Landham, drums. Eubanks is the
trumpet playing brother of the NBC Tonight Show guitar playing Kevin Eubanks,
another Philadelphia product, and Duane has been making a name for himself at
various local clubs. He has also worked with such major stars as Terrell
Stafford, Shirley Scott, Illinois Jacquet, James Moody and Jimmy Heath. . The
rhythm section is an all star support group with a considerable background
and fan following of their own.
But the man with the horn who can set this place on fire with his incendiary
sax is the tenor sax giant, Bootsie Barnes. Mr. Barnes started out as a
drummer with the Ben Franklin High School Band and worked along the way to
alto and tenor going with Art Blakey, Jimmy Heath and Sonny Fortune. He paid
his dues in full working local clubs, national gigs, with major and minor
groups, developing a tenor sound that has all the depth and excitement of
Coleman Hawkins. Like Hawkins, Barnes can go from jam session excitement to
tender, heartbreakingly lovely ballads as he has demonstrated in person and
on
several CDs.
Ortlieb's is, of course, Philadelphia's longest running jazz club still in
existence and is tended over by owner and tenor sax playing Pete Souders who
gets as much kick out of the music there as most of the fans do. The club is
shaped like a bowling alley and is located in what looks like a decaying
factory setting in Northern Liberties so you know it is the music that keeps
people coming back for decades.
