JAZZ REVIEW : Cohen-Malin’s Bright New Big Band

Will the big band of Harvey Cohen and Lew Malin become a West-Coast version of the sterling Mel Lewis-Thad Jones ensemble?

Maybe.

With a regular Monday night gig at the Moonlight Tango Cafe and a crew of first-rate L.A. players, the prospects for Cohen-Malin’s Hollywood All-Star Big Band would seem to be bright, despite its cumbersome name.

This week’s opening set included several familiar standards for the crowded audience of big-band aficionados. But Cohen’s arrangements--especially on “In a Mellow Tone” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”--made few concessions to commercialism. The ensemble’s big, boisterous sound was constantly given a full range of expression.

Among the soloists, alto saxophonists Ann Patterson and Kim Richmond (bandleaders in their own right) were particularly impressive, and vocalist Albina Bocchiccio recalled memories of Frances Wayne with her reading of “Bewitched.”

But if the Cohen-Malin group is going to emerge as more than an entertainment fixture, it will have to program fewer vocal numbers (there were three in the first set) and considerably more instrumental solos.

Equally important, it lacks personality--both in its leadership and in its music. Good big bands always have a strong sense of who they are, and the Hollywood All-Star Big Band is still struggling to find its true identity.