Music	Three Freakin' Giants of Jazz by Phil Sims

Hit an interview home run on Jim Rome sports radio and you receive a new and well-known middle name: “freakin’.” The moniker has been honestly earned by three Buffalo jazzmen who will converge on McGee’s Restaurant in the University Plaza, Main Street near Bailey, on Tuesday, July 15, at 8:30pm.

Left: Michael Royal, Right: Larry Covelli

The music engine moved jazz pianist Michael Royal around the world from his native Tampa, Florida, to post-high-school US tours with the Diamonds. Stints in Europe, Florida, and Los Angeles dotted the map. Music and family landed Royal in our beloved Buffalo for a glorious decade, but in the end Florida became home again. To this day, Royal cherishes and misses Buffalo winters. His life’s roadmap is built on a foundation of love and joy most evident in his music, which breathes Miles, Coltrane, Evans, and Monk.

Like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, Royal shares connections to the city of Buffalo through another piano legend, Dick Fadale; they rendezvoused in LA along with two well known Buffalonians, guitarist Paul Viapiano and saxophonist Bobby Militello, for the release of Militello’s album, Blow. Fadale will be in town at the same landmark two weeks hence. Fadale shares an even more direct connection with another of our returning heroes, international tenor sax legend Larry Covelli. (Are you staying with the roadmap?)

Together at Lackawanna High School, Fadale used to chauffeur Covelli around in his Model A Ford. Since those days, Covelli has toured in style with many great bands, such as the Woody Herman Band in the 1960s that featured grand performers such as trombonist Phil Wilson and trumpeter Bill Chase. Covelli earned his nickname, “the Shark,” from his card playing while on tour with that band. A seminal moment for Covelli, and jazz fans worldwide, was his haunting solo on Chuck Mangione’s “She’s Gone.” Talk about love and joy!

The wild card in all of this is local saxophonist (and my contemporary) Russell D’Alba. D’Alba is considered “local” because he decided years ago to stay in Buffalo with his lovely wife, Marcia, and his children and become a thriving business entrepreneur and community leader. His sax playing is not at all simply local, but John Sedola-trained and certified world-class. On tours, D’Alba didn’t chauffeur me around in a Model A but rather in his 1963 Porsche with no floorboards. There are some stories to tell there, but suffice it to say I think D’Alba and I had as much fun as did Covelli and Fadale.

Seldom do we get the opportunity to welcome to one stage three larger-than-life musicians, personalities and dreamers in their own right. Covelli, the world-renowned saxophonist; D’Alba, the international businessman, and Royal, who, in addition to his music career, is a leader in the state of Florida in animal rescue with his wife, Julie. All three of these men have seen the world, lent a hand to it, and are bringing home a tremendous amount of music to share with you on Tuesday, July 15, 8:30pm on the curiously lit bandstand, hosted by drummer Dan Hull at McGee’s Restaurant. Royal and Covelli boast new CD releases. Get there early; there will likely be a lot of car stories to go around.

—phil sims