JAZZ REVIEW : Braxton’s Appeal Remains Puzzle

The continued appeal of Anthony Braxton is curious.

A leading light in the jazz avant-garde since he emerged in the early ‘70s, the saxophonist is a strangely inept musician who, while evidencing scant growth as a performer in the last decade, still commands a good deal of critical respect and has a loyal audience for his unique, and puzzling, musical utterances.

In his first local appearance in eight years, Braxton and bassist Buell Neidlinger offered duets to an almost full house during the first show at McCabe’s in Santa Monica on Saturday. The program consisted of three Thelonious Monk compositions, one extended original and a brief solo extemporization for a crowd-demanded encore.

That Braxton should desire to play Monk is another conundrum, for the saxophonist--whose music has a serious philosophical bent--avoids the obvious melody, rhythm and humor that was at the heart of Monk’s work.

“Off Minor” began with Braxton--playing alto saxophone and emitting a muffled tone of questionable pitch--stiffly reading the Monk line. He then soloed over Neidlinger’s steady pulse, a pleasing thump that gave the piece a necessary anchor. Braxton’s solo consisted of clusters of sound rather than clean, single-note articulations and had little to do with Monk’s composition. Fortunately, Neidlinger’s brief, unpretentious improvisation did.

Braxton’s original consisted of a series of leaping, angular lines played on a variety of saxophones and an odd assortment of mostly short, bowed and plucked phrases from Neidlinger. These written portions were followed by free improvisations. At times, Braxton, using circular breathing, offered wildly fingered passages on both sopranino and C Melody saxes that sounded like cats fighting or the cacophony of a traffic jam. For these efforts, Braxton was rewarded with ovations from the crowd.

The show concluded with a melody reading of “ ‘Round Midnight,” fairly true to the tenor of the tune, and a mercifully short Braxton solo encore.