Dave McKenna 1930-2008
Jazz piano great Dave McKenna passed away Saturday morning, October 18, 2008, at his home in Pine Grove Mills, PA.
Dave McKenna was born May 30, 1930, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, into a musical family. His father William McKenna, a postman, played the drums part-time, and two sisters are singers. His mother, Catherine Reilly McKenna, was Dave's first piano teacher.
Dave began his career at the age of 16 with the Boots Mussulli Band, than left home to play with the Charlie Ventura band, followed by a stint with Woody Herman. After two years in the army, he returned to Charlie Ventura's band then worked with Gene Krupa, Stan Getz, and Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. He often worked with Bobby Hackett, playing what Hackett called "Whiskeyland Jazz." During his career McKenna also played with such musical icons as Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Rosemary Clooney, and Tony Bennett. Among Dave's biggest piano influences was Nat King Cole.
He and his wife Frankie moved to Cape Cod in 1966, with their sons Stephen and Douglas. The move changed his career as well as his address - he worked less frequently with bands and more often as a solo pianist, developing a unique style that often featured a walking bass line with his left hand while improvising melodic lines with his right. "I don't know if I qualify as a bona-fida jazz guy," he said. "I play saloon piano. I like to stay close to the melody." His humility and laid-back personal style seem a contrast to the vibrant vitality of his masterful piano style. New Yorker jazz critic Whitney Balliett called Dave McKenna the hardest swinging jazz pianist of all time.' Newsweek called McKenna a "nonpareil and utterly astonishing artist" and "the world's best barroom piano player."
Dave's musical magic found a wider audience through recordings, from his first solo recording on ABC records in 1955, to his wonderful work in the 70s for Chiaroscuro Records and then for Concord Jazz. In the 80s, Dave's many fans could enjoy his magnificent medleys 6 nights a week at the Plaza Bar, in the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston, where he was pianist-in-residence.
McKenna was awarded and honorary degree in music from Providence College and was the recipient of the Rhode Island Pell award in 2002 for excellence in the arts.
Dave McKenna is survived by his wife, Frances McKenna in North Carolina, his sons Stephen in Pennsylvania and Douglas in Massachusetts, his granddaughter Caitlin McKenna in Pennsylvania, his sisters Jean O'Donnell and Patricia Savard and a brother Donald McKenna in Rhode Island.
The family encourages donations in his name be made to the American Diabetes Association, 3544 Progress Avenue, Suite 101, Harrisburg, PA 17110