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Jazz piano gave balance to neurosurgeon's life
Sunday, January 24, 1999 By Peter B. King, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
If actions speak louder than words, consider what Dr. Howard Gendell, the late neurosurgeon and pianist, did with the money from his gigs: He let his sidemen split it all.
"He paid us well because he didn't get paid," says bassist Dave LaRocca. "He was a good guy."
Gendell was just as generous with the proceeds from his three albums: "Standard Care," "On Call" and "Soul and Spirit." That money went to the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force and the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Gendell died of heart disease at home in Fox Chapel last February at the age of 51. But he left behind some beautiful vibes, both musical and personal.
WDUQ-FM DJ Tony Mowod comments: "To me, Howard Gendell was a very good friend, a brain surgeon who played piano to amuse himself and to find a bit of relaxation by entertaining his friends. I will always remember him, and I will miss him very much."
Many other folks feel the same way. More than 20, including his widow, Dr. Jacqueline Pringle Gendell, formed an organization called "Friends of Howard Gendell MD." The Friends and the Pittsburgh Jazz Society are presenting Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass at the Carnegie Music Hall Tuesday at 8 p.m. to benefit the Pittsburgh Jazz Society/Howard Gendell MD Scholarship Endowment Fund. The fund will award $5,000 each year to a young Pittsburgh-area jazz musician for college-level studies.
Gendell was born in Queens in New York City, in 1946. He studied classical piano as a child and flipped for jazz when he heard "Concert by the Sea," by the late Pittsburgh pianist Erroll Garner, the composer of "Misty."
The demands of being a doctor forced Gendell to stop playing piano for about 20 years. But in the late '80s, he picked it up again. And a Pittsburgh audience picked up on him, crowding into his gigs at clubs like the James Street Tavern and Foster's or seeing him at numerous private parties - many for charity.
"He had a great natural feel," LaRocca says of his playing. "He wasn't schooled in the sense of, like, knowing all the scales. He just played from the heart, and it worked. It was pure. And I think being pure was the thing that reached the audience."
"He always considered it an honor to be playing with the musicians that accompanied him," Mowod adds. "He felt they were much more musically educated than he was."
Now, Gendell's memory has inspired more music-making. A Gendell tribute CD is being readied for release the day of the concert to help the scholarship fund. It features performances by his music-making colleagues including guitarist Eric Susoeff, LaRocca, pianist John D'Amico, saxophonist/pianist Lou Schreiber, saxophonist/arranger Mike Tomaro, bassist Rich Luce and drummer Lenny Rogers.
The disc includes an unreleased piano solo by Gendell on an original tune, as well as a remake of another original that served as his theme, "You and I," and standards such as "Take the 'A' Train" and "When You Wish Upon a Star."
As important as music was to Gendell, he put medicine first. Besides performing surgery, Gendell did research into the autonomic nervous system. And he crafted a sub-specialty in nonsurgical ways of relieving pain and restoring health.
"We talked a lot about health issues," says LaRocca, "and he was one of the few guys in his field who was open to the wholistic medicine. He thought about that a lot - the whole person, mind, spirit, body.
"I think what he did, with his musical thing and his work day, was he looked after his whole self."
"He used to say that he loved to play music because it was a good way for him to relax," recalls guitarist Susoeff. "And he felt that a good way to live a healthy life was to find a balance in your life, and that when people were ill, something was out of balance. And so, as a doctor, he would find ways to help the body restore its own natural balance."
Also on the tribute CD is a new tune written by Susoeff and Luce. It's called, not surprisingly, "Balance."
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