Extended, Solo

Philly's last jazz club celebrates a milestone (and double-checks its birth certificate).


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Published: Sep 15, 2010

Jessica Kourkounis

Glenn Gerber (left) and Mark DeNinno

The all-star sextet that will take the stage at Chris' Jazz Café at the end of the month was originally assembled as the club's "25th Anniversary Band" — only that turned out to be slightly premature. Maybe the members — saxophonists Larry McKenna, Bootsie Barnes and Eric Alexander, guitarist Peter Bernstein, organist Dan Kostelnik and drummer Rodney Green — can reconvene in another five years, but for now the big birthday blowout has been scaled back to celebrate the big 2-0.

"We did a fact-check and found out that the history that was originally written for the club was incorrect," explains co-owner Mark DeNinno. "The occupancy records say that the club was here in 1975, which we knew was wrong. So we went right to the source and called up Chris Dhimitri."

Original owner Dhimitri, based around the corner on Broad Street in his restaurant Bliss, revealed January 1990 as the actual opening date. So the party's about eight months late, but 20's still a nice round number.

These days, Chris' offers about 500 shows a year, with local acts most weekdays, and bigger national names on Friday and Saturday nights. Back in 1990, Chris' was more of a bar-restaurant that happened to have some jazz. Back then, and for the club's first 15 years, musicians were crammed into a small corner in the front bar area, though in 2005, a stage, sound system and lighting were installed in the back. A long-awaited replacement for the cringe-inducing piano (certain regulars insisted on bringing their own keyboards for gigs) came a bit more recently.

Dhimitri sold his namesake club in 1999 to current co-owner Glenn Gerber and two partners, including the bar's then-manager. DeNinno came on as a restaurant consultant in 2001, becoming co-owner with Gerber the following year.

With Ortlieb's and Zanzibar Blue gone, Chris' is the only full-time jazz joint left in Philly, but the owners don't see themselves as somehow victorious.

"Other clubs closing counterintuitively limits what we can do," Gerber says. "Since there are no other outlets for different types of music, we find ourselves in a position where we have to fight the urge to be all things to all people. Philadelphia's in a weird place now where there are so many great musicians who should be playing clubs, but there are so few clubs that they can't find shows. It's increasing the level of anger out there, which is something that we have to deal with. You can only complain about a club when it's open. When it closes, then you hear the wake and how great you were."

One complaint, sometimes from audiences and occasionally the bandstand, is in regard to the level of crowd noise. "Yeah, there's a lot of drama," admits Gerber. "In Philadelphia, if they don't like you, they're going to be chatty. And if they do like you, they're going to be raucous."

The 20th Anniversary Band, assembled by longtime booker Alan McMahon, whose involvement with Chris' predates either owner's, consists of a number of artists with long histories onstage at Chris'.

"It's a true Philadelphia hard-bop show that will swing from beginning to end," promises Gerber. "You'll come here and your foot will tap. This isn't a PBS pledge drive. What we're providing is fun."

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Fri.-Sat., Sept. 24-25, 8 and 10 p.m., $20-$25, Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St., 215-568-3131, chrisjazzcafe.com.