Dave McKenna

For more than two decades, Dave McKenna has stood among the foremost pianists working in a swing idiom. His powerfully articulated left-hand lines supply forward motion to brisk selections, while an encyclopedic command of outstanding material from the 1930s has produced numerous satisfying albums that treat the repertoire with both respect and renewed vitality. Although gifted early on, McKenna received limited attention until he reached his forties. He entered the Musicians’ Union at age fifteen and gained initial professional experience alongside Boots Mussulli in 1947, Charlie Ventura in 1949, and Woody Herman’s Orchestra from 1950 to 1951. Following a two-year military hitch, he rejoined Ventura from 1953 to 1954, then performed with an array of leading swing and Dixieland musicians that included Gene Krupa, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Eddie Condon, Bobby Hackett, and, in the late seventies, Bob Wilber; he also appeared regularly as a soloist in Massachusetts piano bars. Early recordings appeared on ABC-Paramount in 1956, Epic in 1958, Bethlehem in 1960 on a two-piano session with Hall Overton, and Realm in 1963, yet only after 1973 did his work begin receiving fuller documentation. During that period he led dates for Halycon, Shiah, Famous Door, and Inner City—the last of these featuring vocalist Teddi King—as well as four albums for Chiaroscuro. McKenna’s association with Concord began in 1979 with the trio album No Bass Hit, recorded alongside Scott Hamilton and Jake Hanna, and he has remained with the label ever since, contributing both as a sideman and in small-group settings while reserving his most compelling statements for unaccompanied recitals. By the middle of the 1990s he stood at the peak of his profession.