POP AND JAZZ REVIEWS : Fans Cheer as Liebert Plays It Again--and Again

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO —  Ottmar Liebert is another artist who, if only unconsciously, endorses the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Playing the Coach House on Saturday, Liebert stayed with the consistency his shows are known for. Tunes delivered from his 1993 “Hours Between Day + Night” sounded pretty close to their recordings, and the crowd gave the 32-year-old guitarist resounding applause.

Liebert’s success (his debut album, “Nouveau Flamenco” has sold close to 1 million albums and has been on the Billboard magazine New Age charts for 211 weeks) is completely understandable. He plays instrumental pieces that mix the brio of flamenco with all sorts of other contemporary music, in the process smoothing out the rhythmic bite of flamenco to offer undulating beats that are hard to resist.

But what isn’t clear is why fans lap up Liebert’s selections which differ so slightly from each other, and beg for more.

At the Coach House, Liebert and his band, Luna Negra, doled out about a dozen tunes during their first show, many drawn from the “Hours” album. Tunes such as “Lone Rider” and “Havana Club” were based on small snippets of melody--many undeniably tuneful--that were repeated time and again, and after a while, these melodies began to blur, one so similar to its predecessor.

Take a tune like “Lone Rider,” which Liebert called “a spaghetti Western for which we’ll supply the soundtrack and you supply the movie.” The number was typical of Liebert’s ‘let’s play that catchy phrase one more time” style.

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The song began with orchestral string-like sounds from keyboardist Domenico Camardella and some atmospheric electronically reproduced cricket chirpings, seemingly supplied by percussionist Mark Clark. Then Liebert introduced the song’s major themes: a brief ascending melody, that fell back down a few notes in repose, a variant on this melody, and then the initial phrase, played higher on the leader’s steel-strung acoustic guitar.

All this was backed by an alluring rhythmic fabric proved by Luna Negra, which also included Calvin Hazen (rhythm guitar) and John Hagan (bass).

Liebert played each of these patterns four times before moving on to the next, bouncing between the lot. Then following a bass solo by Hagan, he repeated the process. At the end of the selection, before once again offering these basic themes, he played one achingly slow, to great advantage.

The crowd ate it up. So, it seemed, did Liebert. Wearing white pants with a white T-shirt, shoeless and with his trademark long hair now cut summer-short, he sat erect in his chair, his torso still, his eyes closed, his head slowly moving side-to-side as he worked.

If “Lone Rider” had been just one of two or three tunes that Liebert played, the fascination--both on the part of the crowd and the artist--wouldn’t be so confusing. But Liebert’s “Adrift in Tangier,” “Havana Club” and “Lush,” not to mention a version of Hendrix’s “3rd Stone From the Sun” followed this pattern.

It would appear Liebert is capable of much more. Saturday, as on his recordings, he played the guitar excellently. His tone was always strong and persuasive, his lines revealed a new-dollar-bill crispness, and there appeared to be not a passage that was beyond his technical adroitness. This makes the lowest-common denominator aspect of his show all the more puzzling.

Liebert said in an interview that improvisation is an integral part of his show, but he injected little in the way of soloing into his presentation. When he did, his forays tended to be brief, and, not surprisingly, usually relied on the repeating of a simple phrase to add effect.

It’s as if Liebert doesn’t trust his fans to go with something deeper than surface emotions, to really delve into the heart of a song and give listeners something rich and rewarding they can’t get anywhere else.

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To be fair, Liebert did occasionally break out of his Xerox mode. On “Morning Arrival in Goa,” he set a scene that was compelling in its delicacy, and which moved into several differing sections. Here rhythm guitarist Hazen used spare phrases to underpin Liebert, who played similarly economic lines that were ear-pleasing.

Also, an opening unaccompanied, flamenco-based piece was delivered with panache and inventive spirit. Numbers like these, and more penetrating, probing improvisations, would make Liebert a little more worthy of the adulation he is currently receiving.

* Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra play Tuesday, 7 p.m. (sold out), and Wednesday, 6:45 and 9:45 p.m., at the Strand, 1700 S. Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach. Tickets, $27.50. (310) 316-1700.