By Donald True Van Deusen
The pot is boiling for jazz joy tonight at Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom
Street (215- 568-3131) with the return of Larry McKenna, the tenor titan,
along with Pete Smyser, a guitarist compared by many to two of the
finest--Wes Montgomery and Barney Kessel. They will be joined by Grant
Stewart, a young tenor sax man out of Canada now making musical waves in New
York City. Jim Shade on drums and Dave Brodie on bass will round out the
quintet for what has the excitement potential of a Jazz at the Philharmonic
concert. Admission is $8, $5 for students, with sets from 9 PM to 1 AM.
Al McMahon, talent manager for Chris' Cafe said of the date, "Larry's
come home." McKenna, indisputably one of finest tenor sax men ever from
Philadelphia, worked Chris' Jazz Cafe for several years prior to taking on a
weekly gig at recently closed Alex's Jazz Underground.
A new, soon-to-be-released CD, appropriately titled, "Pete Smyser and
Larry McKenna," features both musicians on such time-tested tunes as "Until
The Real Thing Comes Along," "his Time The Dreams On Me," "That Old Feeling"
and such bop gems as "Yardbird Suite." McKenna told me he worked well with
Smyser as both men can take you from New Orleans to Birdland influences with
their own distinctive touches.
Smyser, another Philadelphia-area jazz star, was praised by Jazz Improv
Magazine as demonstrating "jazz guitar as witnessed during the best of the
30's, 40's and 50's." He is listed among the greats in "The Jazz Guitar, Its
Evolution, Its personalities Since 1900" from the Ashley mark Publishing
Company.
Grant on tenor sax, is compared by McMahon to two tenor legends-- Sonny
Rollins and Wardell Gray. The exchanges possible with this line up clearly
suggest those great JATP concerts of half a century ago.
