an ode to saloon players

The first impression I had as I listened to Dave McKenna's music was of intimacy. There is unhurriedness in Dave’s sound, sprinkled with gaiety - even the somber songs like Danny Boy. I’m sure part of what I’m hearing in these recordings is a reflection of his friendship with Chris, but mostly it must be the music of the man, cultivated from those glamorous saloons where he honed his craft.

When asked about his next gig in NYC, Dave described it as “A good barroom, an honest barroom, the kind of place I like.” When I heard Dave utter these words, I knew all I needed to know about the man.

A friend of mine who is an accomplished New England folk singer has played the same old wooden tavern every Thursday and Sunday night for 25 years. I asked him once the same question Chris asks Dave about people talking during his set. He told me that he looks at every night as a challenge to make them stop talking and listen. And I thought, what a fulfilling feeling it must be for him – and Dave – to hold court on those special nights. A disparate smattering of private confabs huddled over tiny cocktail lined tables transforms almost hypnotically into a gleeful communal submission.

I thought of Dave last night as I sat in the old divey Cantab Lounge in Cambridge MA. It was way past midnight and the Tuesday night bluegrass band were still putting their hearts into their fiddles – or maybe they were pulling the fiddles out of their hearts – but now it was the end of the night and the guys on stage outnumbered the crowd. For the last song one guy took the lead and sang as soulful a sad country song as I’ve ever heard in my presence. At one point I thought why is he giving so much when there is only a few of us listening. And then I though maybe it’s precisely because there is a few of us listening.

And then I thought of Dave McKenna – a man I never had the pleasure to see – and all those intimate evenings he must of presided over throughout the years, recorded by nothing but the few appreciative souls in attendance.

I have no doubt that Dave McKenna was a good jazzman, an honest jazzman, the kind of jazzman I like.