By Rob Hubbard
Personnel: Larry McDonough, piano and voice; Phil Holm, trumpet; Dick Terrill, saxophone; Elizabeth Draper, bass; Chaz Draper, drums.
Background: McDonough has been part of the Twin Cities music scene since the late '70s, when he played keyboards in local pop, rock, R&B and jazz bands while chairing the board of the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, or MPIRG.
"I decided around 1980 that, while I liked music, I felt that I wasn't doing enough to affect the community, in particular doing enough to help poor people,'' said McDonough, 47. "So I went to law school at William Mitchell with the intention of becoming a legal-aid attorney, providing legal assistance to low-income people free of charge."
After a three-year stint in Little Falls, McDonough and his wife moved to St. Paul, and he has been working for a local legal-aid firm ever since. But soon, music called.
"What really signaled me to get me back into music," he said, "was when my daughter was born with a pair of disabilities, and I decided that I wanted to spend more time with her. So I went down to part time at the law office. When she started school about five years ago, I decided to stay part time at the firm and start playing again."
Soon, he joined fusion big band Bozo Allegro, but he also performed solo, in duos and with his own quintet, Off Beat. Balancing music and legal careers may sound like a challenge, but McDonough feels he has forged a successful balance.
"I think that my musical career is like being in a bowling league, although a bit higher profile. I know that I'm not the best bowler in town, because I'm not playing as often as some others. But it lets me fulfill my twin desires of doing work to help people and playing music. And I get to see my kids. Even if my music were to take off, I'm not sure that I'd want to throw off the legal work. I like how it all fits together right now."
Concept: Tonight's show at the Dakota is a benefit for Wellstone Action, a group dedicated to carrying on the work of Paul and Sheila Wellstone. McDonough will be celebrating the release of "Tuscarora," his second album of solo piano pieces. But McDonough didn't set out to make an album.
"I was plugging the Grand Marais Jazz Festival on KUMD in Duluth," he said. "I'm a classic third-born in that I have a hard time planning things. So I just went to the station with a list of possible tunes to play, with only one definite, 'Tuscarora.' I wrote it about a lake in the Boundary Waters, so I thought it would be appropriate. We just let the conversation flow and dictate what tunes I'd play.
"Then, afterward, John Ziegler of KUMD burned me a CD of the show. After I got past the talking, I noticed that there weren't any clunkers on it. So I brought it to be remixed without the talk and gave it to some musician friends, asking, 'What do you think? Should I release this? Should it be a demo? Should it be a Frisbee?' And they all said, 'You should release it.' It was all set to go when the Wellstones died. So I set it aside for a while, then came back to it. And I heard what I was doing 'Amazing Grace,' 'We Shall Overcome,' 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and felt that this should be dedicated to the Wellstones."
Review: "Tuscarora" is the soul of brevity compared to McDonough's sprawling "Small Steps," but its anthemic feel makes it a far more emotional recording, as he revisits Miles Davis' "All Blues" and packs quotes from virtually the entire "Sound of Music" score into "My Favorite Things in 5/4." The arrangement there is typical of McDonough's devotion to uncommon meters, and he often lets each hand take a separate turn in the spotlight, making for engaging keyboard conversations.
Gig: 9 p.m. May 9; Dakota Bar & Grill, Bandana Square, 1021 E. Bandana Blvd., St. Paul; $10; (651) 642-1442.
