Todd Barkan on Booking The Keystone Korner
THE KEYSTONE KORNER [:89]
NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT
Down to the Nightclub under
IN 1972, TODD BARKAN BOUGHT THE KEYSTONE KORNER—A BLUESY ROCK CLUB IN SAN FRANCISCO. AT JUST 25-YEARS-OLD, HE TURNED THE BAR INTO A WEST COAST JAZZ MECCA—FAMOUS FOR BEING EXPERIMENTAL AND OPEN TO ALL.
Music up
TODD BARKAN [ADD?]
Todd Barkan: I felt very fortunate to have adventuresome booking policies where we could have the Dexter Gordon Quartet and the Bobby Hutcherson Quintet and the Max Roach Quartet. And then, I could just put up on the marquis, “Max, Dex, Hutch,” and, you know, I had three bands playing nonstop from 8:00 at night until 2:00 in the morning. Or, if I wanted to put Earl “Fatha” Hines with Oregon, I could do that, and I had two totally different audiences coming together, and it worked out remarkably well.
Fade into Runnin’ Wild
It was a real blessing to use the Keystone Korner kind of as an open canvas to paint many pictures and create many kinds of interesting combinations.
“Down to the Night Club” composed by Stephen Kupka, David Garibaldi, Emilio Castillo and performed by Tower of Power, from The Very Best of Tower of Power, used courtesy of Rhino Atlantic and by permission of Bob-a-Lew Song and Stephen Kupka Songs, ASCAP. “Runnin’ Wild” composed by AH Gibbs, Joe Grey, Leo Wood, and performed by The New Earl Hines Trio, from their album Fatha, used courtesy of Sony Music. Song is in public domain.
THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH IMPRESARIO TODD BARKAN WAS CREATED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.
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