Jersey jazz fest opener celebrates the spirit of legendary Keystone Korner

Updated: MAY 12, 2016 — 3:01 AM

by Shaun Brady, For The Inquirer

Answering the phone one recent morning, Todd Barkan chirped out a lilting, "Lee Morgan!"

The greeting, he explained, was "a combination of bebop and German." It was also customized for a caller from Philadelphia, hometown of the great trumpet player. More than that, though, it was a prime indicator of how Barkan thinks in the language of jazz.

From 1972 to 1983, Barkan got to tout his love for the music every night from the stage of the Keystone Korner, the nightclub he owned and ran in San Francisco. During its decadelong existence, countless jazz titans played the Keystone - towering names such as Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, and Dexter Gordon. Pianist Mary Lou Williams called the club "the Birdland of the '70s."

Barkan recalls that "what distinguished the Keystone Korner was a certain kind of humanism. There was a real feeling that that club was a home away from home for a lot of artists of a lot of different persuasions."

Barkan has enjoyed a long and distinguished career apart from the Keystone, producing hundreds of recordings, including pianist/bandleader Arturo O'Farrill's Grammy-winning 2014 album, The Offense of the Drum, and serving as artistic administrator of Jazz at Lincoln Center for more than 10 years. But he still looks back fondly at the Keystone Korner as a special hub during a memorable era.

He's tried to resurrect the spirit of the club on a few occasions, including a "Keystone Korner Concert Series" at the New York club Iridium in 2013. On Thursday, he'll open the Cape Bank Jazz @ The Point Festival in Somers Point, N.J., with a tribute celebration featuring pianist George Cables' trio, with drummer Victor Lewis and bassist Essiet Essiet and special guests trumpeter Eddie Henderson and vibraphonist Steve Nelson.


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