JAZZ REVIEW : Nostalgia Night at Bowl Tribute

Nostalgia hung like dew in the August air Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl, where a crowd of swing fans paid tribute to music that was itself tributary.

Clarinetist Walt Levinsky and the Great American Swing Band saluted the Benny Goodman orchestra; Nancy Wilson dedicated her set to Cannonball Adderley. Buddy de Franco and Terry Gibbs paid homage to Goodman’s small group sound with “Airmail Special”; then there was Mel Torme’s tribute to Mel Torme.

Even Torme closed his set by playing Gene Krupa’s original drums, backed by Levinsky and the band in “Sing Sing Sing,” vintage 1938, followed by a free-for-all blues with Gibbs and Torme on vibes, Levinsky and De Franco on clarinet. (The contrast afforded by the latter’s strong, compelling sound was striking.)

Torme’s set, for which he was backed mainly by an 11-piece ensemble with estimable Marty Paich arrangements, was a delight from top to bottom. Looking good for his 13th year at the Bowl, he was introduced by Harry Anderson. As always, he showed the same taste in his choice of material as in his interpretations, from a beautiful 1941 Harold Arlen melody, “When the Sun Comes Up,” to a witty piece by Donald Fagen, “The Goodbye Look.”

Levinsky never quite captured the Goodman sound himself (he seemed most at ease when simply playing Levinsky style, backed by rhythm only, on “Here’s That Rainy Day”). The band read the charts well, but the magic sense of swing stayed hidden. Two superior Mel Powell originals, “Clarinade” and “Mission to Moscow,” were played just fast enough to lose the groove.

Nancy Wilson sang songs from an album she made with Adderley in 1961. Except for an opening medley (arranged by Jeff Clayton, who played the Cannonball role on alto), the quintet had no chance to re-create the old Adderley sound, though with Oscar Brashear on trumpet and Adderley’s original drummer, Roy McCurdy, it could and should have done a set of its own.

Wilson started well, but on reaching “The Masquerade Is Over” she began mangling the song (and wound up strangling it) with an irritating whisper-to-a-shriek dynamic contrast. What is sad is not just that she sings so badly, but that over the years such a promising artist lost her way.

Gibbs and De Franco were in fine fettle, particularly on the ballads.