The hardest to get reservation when Don Wexler owned the Van Dyck in Schenectady back in the 1980s was to hear Dave McKenna.
Wexler had come up with this idea of removable tabletops, which served him well into 1994 when he finally closed the Van Dyck for the first time, prior to its reincarnation in more recent years. You may have heard that the Van Dyck—on Union Street in the Stockade--awaits yet a third life under the skilled restaurateur hands of the McDonald family who operate the Stockade Inn and Pinhead Susan’s
Wexler had small cocktail lounge tables in the Van Dyck jazz lounge but if he had no music on a given night or an act that wouldn’t draw well, he had tops that popped onto the smaller tables to make them accommodate four people for dinner. When McKenna played the venerable jazz club, Wexler always used the small tables.
As I recall, McKenna didn’t drive and would spend the night at one of Schenectady’s State Street hotels.
He would enter the jazz lounge grunting hellos to old friends, and sit at the piano. He drank and smoked through the show and seldom spoke. At some point he would light a cigarette, stand it on the filter end and it would ultimately burn out as he played.
He did wonderful medleys linking pop standard songs with women’s names, or names of the months of the year or another theme that would cause an “aha” moment at some point in the set.
Vocalist Daryl Sherman described McKenna’s technique, “Just two bars from Dave and he was immediately inside the song. His unique rhythmic thrust that sounded as if three hands were at work is a trademark of this world-class piano stylist. But he also could caress a melody in a way that sounded as if he were singing just to you. Dave had an innate sense of just the right harmony to enrich a song without diminishing its integrity.
“Once he told me that Harold Arlen was one of his favorite writers and thought My Shining Hour to be the most perfect song. They'd met once when Dave was playing for a radio broadcast and the usual self-effacing McKenna seemed quite proud to relate how Arlen complimented his playing.”
McKenna died last Saturday. According to Daryl Sherman, McKenna was living in Pennsylvania near where his son Steve lived. He died from cancer but had diabetes and other problems. In addition to Schenectady, he was known for playing in lounges in Boston and on Cape Cod. He recorded extensively. He was 78 years old.
Renowned pianist Lee Shaw from the Capital Region said McKenna was a fabulous pianist and her friend.
I don’t think I ever spoke two words to the man but enjoyed Dave McKenna’s performances at the Van Dyck as much as any musical act I’ve ever heard.
