Jazz : Spotlight : Sizing Up the Southland Scene: They Might Be Giants

The Southland’s bubbling vitality as an arena for world-class jazz isn’t always apparent in releases from the major labels. New York is largely the center for their activities, despite the many sessions held in Los Angeles sound studios and identified only in small type in the liner notes.

But take a look at some smaller labels and a different picture emerges, with a virtual cornucopia of releases featuring the area’s many talented jazz artists. Here’s a quick sampling of a few current releases that demonstrates the wide range of available music:

Anthony Wilson, “Adult Themes” (*** 1/2, MAMA Records). Guitarist-composer-bandleader Wilson, the son of legendary Southland jazz great Gerald Wilson, is showing all the signs of becoming a major new star in his own right. Already a fine guitarist, and improving more every day, he is also an impressive composer-arranger with a mature ear for textures and the rare ability to create an ensemble sound of his own. The 11-piece band that performs in this set is a well-blended combination of new arrivals and established artists: veterans such as trumpeter Carl Saunders and saxophonists Pete Christlieb and Jack Nimitz with the youthful Donald Vega on piano, Joe Bagg on organ and Danton Boller on bass. The program, which frequently places Wilson’s guitar front and center, ranges from rock classics such as Lennon & McCartney’s “Because” and Donald Fagen’s “Maxine” to the five-movement Wilson original composition “Adult Themes.” And all of it is worth hearing.

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Bobby Matos Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, “Live at MOCA” (***, Cubop Records). Percussionist Matos’ group is one of the most determinedly jazz-oriented of the Southland’s many Latin jazz ensembles. This live set, recorded in July 1998 as part of the Summer Nights at MOCA series, displays some of the band’s strongest points--especially its ability to deliver a strong, driving sense of jazz swing without sacrificing the multilayered Latin rhythmic elements. Saxophonist-flutist Michael Turre and pianist Victor Cegarra add impressive solo segments.

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Lanny Morgan, “A Suite for Yardbird” (***, Fresh Sounds). No one is better qualified to deal directly with the music of Charlie Parker than alto saxophonist Morgan. A veteran of the Terry Gibbs and Maynard Ferguson big bands, and a permanent member of the Parker-oriented Supersax and a perennial in L.A. recording studios, he has never really received the attention that his bop-revisited improvising deserves. He rips through a program of Parker pieces ranging from “Yardbird Suite” and “Bird Feathers” to “Marmaduke” and the difficult “Ko Ko” (played at a rampaging tempo) with consistent imagination, easily demonstrating the life that remains in the bop style when it is employed by a player with first-rate skills. And he deserves special credit for succeeding so well in a setting that might intimidate a lesser player--interpreting music written by and intimately associated with one of the most important figures in jazz history.

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Dwight Sills, “Easy” (** 1/2, Citylights Records). Amid the crowded field of smooth-jazz guitarists, Sills manages to stand out. Thoroughly adept at producing the sounds that generate radio airplay, he is also capable of sneaking in a sense of swing in unexpected places. And his decision to do an updated rendering of Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” just might give him his first big single.

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Harleigh Cole, “Black Light” (** 1/2, Domo Records). Multi-instrumentalist Cole, grandson of Nat King Cole, has a taste for exotic textures underscored with groove rhythms. But in his case, the textures are generally fascinating, far removed from the typical synth textures of many smooth-jazz albums. And his acoustic piano work--like Sills’ guitar--often surfaces through the mix via briskly articulated, funk-filled melodies. Best of all, Cole seems to have a musical sense of humor and a willingness to apply it by mixing all sorts of unlikely stylistic companions into a musical stew.

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Ray Anthony and His Big Swing Band, “The Swing Club” (* 1/2, Aero Space Records). The venerable but still swinging trumpeter-bandleader reminds the nouveau jitterbug generation that some of the originals are still around with a program of unrelenting swing chestnuts featuring vocalists Madeline Vergari and Patrick Tuzzolino. In the process, an extraordinary big band, filled with some of the Southland’s finest musicians, is largely wasted, except for occasional solos--few of which will find their way onto any of the players’ personal disc of memories. And poor Gregg Field, a fine drummer and bandleader in his own right, is relegated (except for “Sing Sing Sing”) to playing repetitious backbeats for most of the entire 12 tracks. *

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).