Minnesota Daily
April 09, 2015
By Jackie Renzetti
University adjunct law professor Larry McDonough plays an original composition entitled "Tuscarora" with his jazz group in his St. Paul home on Monday evening.
Photo by Liam Doyle
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After receiving applause from a packed audience at Jazz Central, Larry McDonough and his quintet decided to bring their Chet Baker tribute concert to the Dakota Jazz Club.
McDonough banded together four other Minnesota musicians for the occasion: trumpeter Steve Kenny, saxophonist Richard Terrill, bassist Greg Stinson and Dean White on drums.
“I really didn’t see it coming that it would be that popular. We all had a lot of fun doing it, so I thought, ‘Well, we should book some other shows,’” McDonough said of their debut performance at Jazz Central.
Aside from performing more concerts throughout the rest of the year, the group may produce an album with their show material, McDonough said.
In the first act, the quintet will perform material synonymous with Baker, the famous jazz trumpeter and vocalist. The second act consists of both McDonough’s original tunes and other jazz pieces that blend with Baker’s style.
Baker rose to stardom in the ’50s for his trumpet playing and soft vocals. A lifetime of drugs and visits to jail took him out of the spotlight, though he made a comeback in the late ’70s and ’80s before his death in 1988.
“[Baker] kind of coasted through life and did the minimal amount to get by,” McDonough said. “[He] found material that worked for him, and he just kept doing it … so I chose some pieces that I think he should have expanded his repertoire to do.”
In between songs, McDonough and Kenny will provide context about Baker’s life. Terrill will perform two poems that he composed for the show: one about Baker and one about pianist Bill Evans to go with their performance of Evans’ “Some Other Time.”
“It’s kind of a tribute to his music and a discussion of his life,” McDonough said.
Kenny said McDonough’s singing style shares the same frailty of Baker’s croons. For most of McDonough’s career, people have compared his voice to that of Baker’s. The recurring comparison first gave McDonough the idea to dig into Baker’s music and, eventually, curate the concert.
McDonough said that for the Baker concert, he adjusted his singing for a closer impersonation.
“I had to rein back my emotional side of singing a little bit, so it’s a little cooler,” McDonough said.
When McDonough isn’t nailing jazz standards on stage, he teaches “Poverty Law” at the University, from which he graduated in 1978 with a degree in music education.
In addition to creating the course “Poverty Law,” McDonough also brought the “Housing Law Clinic” to the school, where students represent clients under the supervision of a professor or lawyer. He has also taught similar courses at the University of St. Thomas, Hamline University and William Mitchell College of Law.
Outside of his work as an attorney, McDonough continued to pursue music on the side, working as a “jobber” for much of the ’70s and ’80s. In 2007, he was inducted into the Minnesota Rock Country Hall of Fame for his gig with Danny’s Reasons.
McDonough said keeping up his two passions of law and music allows him to explore opportunities on each side. He finds both crafts require intellectual and artistic aspects.
Similar to how a lawyer crafts an argument on the spot, McDonough said jazz requires a comparable amount of energized improvisation.
McDonough, Kenny and Terrill said that in their improvisation, the ensemble enjoys synchronicity with ease.
Following a tune at Jazz Central, Terrill and Kenny improvised for five minutes, going back and forth on saxophone and trumpet.
“We were all just kind of using our serendipity that we’ve acquired over decades of playing jazz,” Terrill said. “I expect there to be more of that type of thing because some of the pieces we’re playing are difficult, but some of them are really in the pocket; everyone can just kick back and blow.”
