Philly’s jazz cats are back on stage, live-streaming from an iconic, empty club

In many ways, watching Eric Alexander take the stage at Chris’ Jazz Café felt reassuringly familiar as the Center City club came back to life Saturday night, after months of silence, to launch a new livestreamed series.

The great tenor saxophonist has long been a frequent visitor, while his rhythm section for the night — pianist Joseph Block, bassist Alex Claffy, and drummer Byron Landham — were all Philadelphians and regulars at the club. Tunes like Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” which the band played during its first set, have illuminated that room countless times over its 30-year history.

And then the reminders of our new reality began to settle in. Those regulars were less recognizable behind face masks, while Alexander was sequestered from his bandmates by an acrylic shield. The quiet smattering of applause between tunes spoke to the lack of an in-person audience for the livestreamed show.

On the upside, that also meant never having to shush the bar, where the night’s selection of drinks was whatever the home audience hadn’t yet depleted during the first four months of quarantine.

Even before the pandemic, Chris’ owner Mark DeNinno had already been planning to install streaming equipment at the iconic jazz haunt. The coronavirus simply accelerated those plans. “When the writing was on the wall that we weren’t coming back, we switched gears,” DeNinno said. “This is going to be our only revenue until we can get back inside.”

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The shuttered club allowed DeNinno to renovate with streaming in mind. “I started to watch some other people’s livestreams, and they used one static camera so it looked like surveillance video,” he said. Chris’ high-quality broadcasts feature four remote-controlled HD cameras, operated by four engineers.

A new mural at the back of the stage lets viewers around the world know that they’re tuned into a Philadelphia jazz club.

The series continues this Saturday with enowned New York guitarist Peter Bernstein, who is celebrating the release of his new album, “What Comes Next,” which he managed to record with an all-star quartet during lockdown. Bernstein has played a handful of virtual shows at the Greenwich Village club Smalls, which he described as a welcome if disconcerting return.

“It feels good to play, but it’s strange,” he said. “Smalls is a place where you always assume you’ll see lots of familiar faces, but there was nobody there. It’s a bizarre feeling, and with no audience, you have nothing coming back at you, yet you know that there’s way more people out there listening than could ever actually fit in the club. But hey, it’s the only chance we get to play.”

At Chris’ Jazz Café, Bernstein will be joined by the local rhythm section of Claffy, Landham, and pianist Tim Brey. It’s a fund-raiser for the legendary guitarist Pat Martino, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and has been unable to perform since November 2018. The livestream is free via the club’s website, chrisjazzcafe.com, which will direct visitors to a GoFundMe page for Martino.

“Pat is one of the iconic figures of jazz guitar,” said Bernstein.

Martino and club owner DeNinno “go back 20 years,” DeNinno said. “He’s such a remarkable individual and such a kind and gentle man, and I felt that we needed to do something to give him a hand. Since we were going to launch worldwide and Pat is internationally known, we figured this would be a great shot to get that information out there and really raise some money.” Last Saturday’s show was also a fund-raiser for Martino.

Future shows, currently scheduled for weekends through September, will cost $5 for a single view within a 48-hour window of the live performance. A small audience of distanced friends and family will be in attendance, somewhat alleviating the dead silence between songs, and the bands will be limited to quintet and smaller — no big bands until a vaccine is found, DeNinno insisted.

The calendar so far includes shows by Chris’ regulars like vibraphonist Tony Miceli, drummer Rodney Green, and vocalists Joanna Pascale and Denise King, along with more high-profile headliners like sax great Chris Potter (in a stunning quartet with pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Lenny White), and rising-star pianist Christian Sands.

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“People all over the world are thirsting for live music, especially live jazz,” said DeNinno. “We’re hoping that our contribution can help quench that.”

Peter Bernstein and his quartet play from Chris’ Jazz Cafe in a livestream at 8 p.m. Saturday; register free at chrisjazzcafe.com. Donations requested for a Pat Martino fund-raiser.