Replay: Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase lives again
“Good to see you up and running,” says an enthusiastic attendee Thursday night at the packed opening of Joe Segal’s new Jazz Showcase. “Feels like ‘Up and creeping,’” responds Segal, with characteristic dry humor and skepticism.
But there’s a lot to be said for the perseverance of Chicago jazz club owners. Just as saxophonist Fred Anderson succeeded in reviving his Velvet Lounge on South Indiana, which was bulldozed in 2006, only to rise phoenix-like round the corner, Segal — the undisputed godfather of Chicago jazz — has bounced back again.
(Michael Jackson/For the Sun-Times)
PHOTO GALLERY
Joe Segal's back!
The newly revived Jazz Showcase at 809 S. Plymouth Court already has a packed slate of shows for the summer, such as:
Call (312) 360-0234 or visit jazzshowcase.com for more information.
After massive rent increases ousted his previous Showcase from a River North location 18 months ago, Segal and his son Wayne have returned to business at a spacious new site in the handsome Dearborn Station building at 809 S. Plymouth Court.
Segal Sr., 82, wearily estimated this as the 60th venue at which he has presented jazz in the city. But after each setback or closure, his bebop emporium has resurfaced, undiminished, with improved facilities. The new room has a slightly larger capacity (170), than the Grand Avenue venue and as longtime door manager Chuck Cicero observes, “There are no pillars or obstructions, it’s a straight shot to the stage.”
The Showcase also now has a incidental license rather than a tavern license, which will permit entry to all ages.
Opening night had hitches for Wayne, Joe and Joe’s grandson, Harold, who had helped with the preparation of the purpose-built room. Wayne was only able to procure a liquor license mid-evening, so strictly soft drinks were available to a crowd made extra-thirsty by the untimely malfunction of the $60,000 air-conditioning system, on a day of 90-degree heat. Also, drapes for the windows had not arrived as promised.
The walls, though, were festooned with memorabilia, including photographs of such all-but-forgotten jazz legends as Don Byas, Jimmy Raney and Lee Morgan.
For the kick-off party (and through this weekend) — Junior Mance, a pianist known for stints with Cannonball Adderley, Dinah Washington and countless other luminaries, as well as his distinctly blues-drenched style — took the stage. Mance played alongside some Chicago musicians who have all had long associations with the Showcase: vibist Stu Katz, drummer Joel Spencer, bassist Eddie de Haas and saxophonist Eric Schneider. The quintet’s impromptu repertoire included Ellington classics, ballad medleys, bluesy grooves, such as Ray Bryant’s “I Don’t Care,” and a significant slice of Thelonious Monk’s book, a particular favorite of the vibraphonist.
Katz, a lawyer by day, was once the club’s first call pianist and remembers in the early ’50s Segal promoting him as one of the New Faces in Jazz, with a band including saxophonist Frank Strozier and trumpeter Booker Little.
“Joe has always been evangelical about his love for the real music and his contempt for what it isn’t,” commented Katz. “He is a guardian angel of the art form. But it doesn’t work for folk to just come out opening night. Joe has booked a consistently solid program and needs regular support.”
Michael Jackson is a Chicago freelance writer.