He Won’t Blow His Own Horn : Pianist McShann, Who Opens ‘Jazz Live,’ Plays Down Influence on the Greats

I came up in Kansas City when the joints were running full blast from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Usual pay was $1.25 a night, though somebody special, like Count Basie, could command a $1.50. There were about 15 bands in town, with Pete Johnson’s crew at the Sunset Cafe one of the most popular. Harlan Leonard was in town then, along with George Lee’s and Bus Moten’s little bands. Lester Young, Herschel Evans and Eddie Barefield were playing around. Top local pianists were Roselle Claxton, Mary Lou, Edith Williams and Basie.

-Charlie Parker, recalling the mid-’30s in “Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya: The Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It” by Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff

It may seem strange that Charlie Parker failed to mention Big Jay McShann. Not only is the pianist often credited with having given Parker his start, but McShann’s style has come to symbolize the Kansas City sound of the last 50-plus years.

Actually, the reason Parker didn’t mention McShann may have been that each was trying out his wings during the same period. McShann (who was born sometime between 1909 and 1916, depending on which reference book you consult) was only a few years older than the legendary saxman and was influenced by many of the same musicians.

In any case, Parker did join one of McShann’s first groups--a move that was rewarding for both. Parker found a testing ground where he could hone his rapidly developing style, and McShann found an exciting soloist who brought a new slant to his blues and boogie-influenced material.

But ask McShann today about his importance to Parker’s career and the good-natured musician characteristically plays it down himself.

“They often give me the credit of being first to hire Charlie Parker,” McShann--who kicks off this summer’s “Jazz Live at the Hyatt” series in Newport Beach tonight--said recently on the phone from Kansas City, where he still lives. “But before he was with me, he was working with George Lee, one of the old-time great singers. George had one of the great bands around Kansas City, as well as Bus Moten. Both were quite popular.

“There were a whole lot of bands around then, including Basie’s and a lot you never hear about, like Tommy Douglas. Those cats could throw a band together overnight. ‘Just get me two saxophones, two trumpets and drums and bass’ they’d say, and they’d have that band playing in just one night.”

McShann’s bands provided opportunities for more than just Parker. He’s also particularly proud of having been one of the first to recognize tenor saxman Jimmy Forrest, best known as the composer of “Night Train.”

But he downplays that too. “Actually,” he said, “it was Parker who discovered him, probably around 1940. Parker had heard him in Texas and came to me and told me about this great player. ‘Can he blow?,’ I asked him, and Parker said, ‘Yeah, man, he can blow.’ So we got in touch with him, and he joined the band the next day.”

Asked about those who influenced his own style, McShann recalls that “Pete Johnson was around at that time. He was one of the greatest boogie-woogie piano players in the country. And Walter Brown, quite a blues shouter, he was around and so was Joe Turner. Together, they were running Kansas City at the time.”

Still, of them all, Fats Waller “is my man. I could never play as good as Fats, but I always tried to. He was what I call an even-handed piano player, 50-50 between the two hands. The right hand didn’t dominate; the left hand was an equal, yet so concise. I never felt that I could do what Fats does. For him, it worked beautifully, the best I ever heard. When I play, I try to play as close to it as I can, as though I was best.” McShann honored his idol recently with a recording on the Sackville label, “A Tribute to Fats.”

Military service interrupted McShann’s career in the ‘40s, but afterward he found work in New York and Los Angeles, where he recorded for Alladin and Mercury. “You know how musicians move around. I came out (to L.A.) first with a big band and played a place called the Plantation Club down on Central Avenue.”

Soon, though, he settled back in the Midwest to raise his family. “When our kids started getting around school age, we came back to Kansas City and I just stayed, didn’t travel much until they finished with school.”

He remained active though. Among other gigs, he reunited with singer Jimmy Witherspoon for two discs in the mid-’50s, “Blue Moods in the Shade of Kansas City” and “A Spoonful of Blues.”

He made his first trip to Europe in 1969, and the international reputation he garnered has kept him on the road ever since. This summer he’ll be traveling to Scotland, England, Wales and Norway. He just returned from a series of performances in Alaska.

His 1991 release, “Jay McShann at the Cafe Des Copains,” provides a good overview of his invigorating work of the last decade. Recorded solo at a Toronto nightspot during appearances in 1983, ’84 and ‘89, the disc finds McShann at his rollicking best, with rich, R & B-flavored renditions of a host of standards, including his own “The Bells Are Ringing.”

McShann said things have changed in the city with which he is still so closely tied. “I don’t get a chance to play Kansas City much anymore because I’m on the road so much. Maybe only three or four times a year if I’m lucky. The town is not wide-open like it used to be, but they have some things happening. They’re working on a Jazz Music Hall of Fame that will be located here. I can just sit back and watch it happen.”

Jay McShann kicks off the “Jazz Live at the Hyatt” series tonight at 7:30 at the Hyatt Newporter Hotel, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach. $8. (714) 729-1234.