Stenton Avenue Reprise: The Photo Essay

by Michael T. Regan and Rick Valenzuela

Photography by Michael T. Regan | Words by Rick Valenzuela

In a year's worth of Wednesdays, at an almost forgotten corner bar, a neighborhood once known for its jazz clubs is staging a revival. The often raucous weekly jam sessions at Reuben's Marc in East Mount Airy are drawing generations of musicians from across the city to improv and experiment alongside acclaimed pianist Orrin Evans.

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You've seen the sights. Now hear the sounds. View Rick Valenzuela and Michael T. Regan's multi-media slideshow documenting Orrin Evans' weekly jam sessions at Reuben's Mark. 

The nights have grown so popular that next month, the owners, Joshua Ringgold and Christopher Davis, expect to open the upstairs as a dedicated music venue. Ringgold, who runs another business remodeling homes, is building a stage in the spacious second floor to accommodate not only Evans and the people who come out to jam Wednesdays, but to book other well-known artists.

"We even had people like Jaguar Wright, Trudy Pitts," says Ringgold. "A lot of people come through basically because of [Evans]."

Aside from offering a place for people to play or sing what they want, Evans says, the jam sessions also provide a venue for experimental players to try out new things and "get their feet wet."

"Some is good, some is not, but this is where you learn," says Evans. "This is how I learned. You're getting younger musicians and the older musicians. So it's really like they're handing over the torch."

The places where Evans played and learned — prominent clubs such as All That Jazz and Slim Cooper's, both in East Mount Airy — are either long gone or no longer running jazz nights. In fact, he says, the only other place to jam is Ortlieb's. Which is fine. But for Evans and Reuben's Marc, the goal is to bring jazz back to the neighborhood.

Evans moved back to Mount Airy from Brooklyn in 1998, and he speaks excitedly about rising property values and new businesses in the neighborhood. He says he's happy that Reuben's Marc is drawing an audience from all over the city, but he emphasizes his hopes that his neighbors will come in on a regular basis.

"When I first moved to West Mount Airy in '98, that little block where North by Northwest is, and those places, it wasn't happening and popping like that. It started getting like that because people in the neighborhood want to not leave the neighborhood."

Evans foresees a similar reawakening in East Mount Airy. "This could be what it was before. This could be the suburbs. This could be that again and it's almost there. You have cats coming down the street and they're like, 'Wait, I'm going to Reuben's Marc. What neighborhood is Reuben's Marc in? Mount Airy.' Mount Airy is gonna be the new hip neighborhood."

Owner Joshua Ringgold stocks the fridge with his son Josh Jr. "I think there's been a jazz void with some known places that closed down," says Ringgold. "Just somewhere to go where you can hear good live music in an area maybe that isn't known for having a place to listen to good live music is my goal.".

Khary Shaheed sets his drum kit for the night's jam.

"I like the idea of a small club," says saxophonist Tony Williams. "You don't need no speakers, you don't need no PA system. it just comes straight from the heart."

"I came up here in '61," says chef Kevin Barnwell. "It was the Village [Bar] as long as I've known it. All the way up until last year. And now look at it. I hadn't been in here in at least 10 years, but last time I was here they used to have maybe a hot dog or something." Now the kitchen serves surf and turf burgers, fried shrimp and an array of dinner plates.

When Brinae Ali comes to Reuben's Marc, she brings a 4-by-6-foot board and her tap-dancing shoes. The drum beats speed up and the sounds of her heels fill the club with soulful rhythms.

Reuben's Marc has been hosting weekly jam sessions in the back dining area. Next month, they plan to move to a dedicated music venue upstairs.

Bassist Jonathon Michel (right) jams with South Philly drummer Joe Truglio.

Seventy-year-old "Soul Sound Sonny" Hopson (center) ruled the AM airwaves with his well-known soul show "The Mighty Burner" from 1965 to 1986. Lately, he's been running an Internet music station.

Freestyle sessions and poetry are interspersed throughout the Wednesday jam sessions. When not expressing himself through freestyle rhymes, Amun crafts homemade jewelry and sells it to customers. [ABOVE]

Daud El-Bakara takes the bus from North Philly with his trumpet to take part in the jam sessions.

A Reuben's Marc patron hangs on every note.

At any point in the night, the jam session could switch from a jazz standard to an R&B/soul classic. Noted vocalists such as Jaguar Wright and Trudy Pitts are known to drop in and perform. Here, the voice of Denise King fills the air.

"[This Avenue] used to be where musicians would come and share with one another," says Williams, who helped Orrin form his first band when he was a senior in high school. "You know, if you were playing up the street, I'd come down and listen to you, or maybe even play, or singers would come in. We'd just have a lot of fun. But right now, unless we share some of these things with the younger folk, they will not have that kind of experience, and it's not fair to them."

Jonathan Michel's fingers fly up and down his Fender bass. Younger musicians take pride in sharing their latest instruments so the old heads can test them out.

"I've been playing for about 13 years now, I've been playing since I was 3," says drummer Justin Faulkner. "I play all around the city, here, Philadelphia, New York, I just came back from Texas with Branford Marsalis, so I'm starting to get around now. Reuben's is an amazing venue. I wish that more people knew about it."

"What's hip about everything that's happening right here is that I don't have to get in my car and go down Lincoln Drive to get to a place where I feel at home," says Evans. "I still go downtown, but if you live in this neighborhood, you can walk here and be in a great environment."