Lulu White’s, the jazz club on Appleton Street in the South End, had a good year in 1979—maybe its best year. And the end of October club owner Chester English went on a serious piano kick. He brought in local stalwart Dave McKenna and matched him with an array of great piano players.
Bill Evans Trio at Lulu White’s, October 30, 1979
There were three pianists in the house on October 25-26, a Thursday-Friday engagement. McKenna shared the bill with the adventurous Joanne Brackeen, not long removed from Stan Getz’s group, and the conservatory-trained Polish pianist Adam Makowicz, who would spend a considerable amount of time in Boston in the early 1980s.
Then for five nights the following week, October 30 to November 3, McKenna played opposite Bill Evans. McKenna played solo. Evans had his trio, with Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbera. It must have been an amazing week, listening to those two craftsmen, both so different and so brilliant.
I spoke to one witness to the proceedings at Lulu White’s. Reedman Dick Johnson, a frequent running mate of McKenna’s back then, spent every possible moment at the club. He recalled the two pianists enjoyed each other mightily, though the modest McKenna insisted he didn’t belong on the same stage as Evans. And Bill Evans? One night early in the week Johnson sat with him during McKenna’s sets. “Bill kept pointing over to the piano and saying, “Can you believe this guy? Can you believe this guy?”
It was getting late in the day for Evans. This turned out to be his last local club engagement, although he was back once more. On April 27, 1980, Evans played duets with John Lewis at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre. Evans died that September, meaning he missed the entire Age of McKenna at the Plaza Bar, and he certainly would have enjoyed that.
Wonder of wonders, though, some of music Bill Evans made on the night of October 30, 1979 surfaced, on a tape of a live broadcast from Lulu White’s on WGBH-FM. The tape sat on a shelf for 24 years before Steve Schwartz found it and played it on his show, Jazz from Studio 4, in 2003. The raw version of this broadcast, complete with Schwartz’s commentary and announcements, is available on various download sites. Then the Spanish Fresh Sounds label got a hold of the broadcast, cleaned it up, and released it on CD in 2010 as Live at Lulu White’s 1979.
A few of the Evans Trio tunes were posted on YouTube. Here, obnoxious crowd noise and all, is “The Peacocks,” composed by Jimmy Rowles, recorded live at Lulu White’s.
I was there that night and many others. That was my Steinway “D” piano in the photo that Bill and Dave were playing. I had a piano rebuilding shop next door and provided a rebuilt Steinway piano whenever Bill played in Boston. Even though he was a “Baldwin Artist,” his agent called me when Bill was going to play in Boston. This started after a Harvard Square Jonathan Swift’s gig where they couldn’t get a 9′ Baldwin down the stairs into the club, so they called me and I provided a Steinway “O” I had just rebuilt. That was approximately 1977. Bill loved it and from that time on always called me for a piano. He liked how I voiced a piano and setup the action – I used Geman hammers which was a rarity in those days, rich and mellow tone but plenty bright enough if you want it, and a firm action. It’s what my classical pianist customers liked so I was attuned to that level taste.
Dave McKenna didn’t like my piano. He said the action was too heavy. Dave liked a bright, light action. I couldn’t please both, and I was working for Bill. Sorry Dave.
I lived upstairs on the 3rd floor over Lulu’s and was down there almost every night after closing up shop for the day. The hostess – Jane Lanouette was a good friend. What a sweetheart! I loved the atmosphere, the people, the music – everything about it. Haven’t know a club since that was nearly this good. I miss it.
We had the trio come upstairs to our apartment for dinner one night while they were at Lulu’s. Bill, Joe, and Marc. My French girlfriend Veronique cooked a spectacular Orange Duck. Sometimes I went out for breakfast after the gig with Joe and Marc. We worried about Bill’s health sometimes.
Thank you for adding this lively remembrance of Lulu’s, as well as a bit of insight into your work with pianos. A behind the scenes look at Lulu’s!
I was a 17-year-old under age, new jazz fan work by myself to Lulu White’s that night, and heard the Bill Evans Trio, with Dave McKenna in the intermission. I didn’t understand what I was seeing and hearing at that time, but having pursued music as a vocation for the last 44 years, I know now. Thank you and it’s a shock and wonderful surprise to find this.
I was there that evening…I remember Bill’s left hand being in a full cast. Then he began playing…Saw Marc Johnson with Eliane Elias at Sculler’s recently and asked him if my memory was correct. He remembered those evenings.Great days on Appleton St…