Ellis Maintains His Old Spirit in Farewell

There was a celebratory feeling in the air Monday night at Rocco’s in Bel-Air. John Pisano’s guitar nights always seem to draw a full house, but the advance word that Herb Ellis was appearing, and that he would be offering a kind of farewell performance, brought out an overflow crowd.

The evening actually began with a two-guitar set featuring Barry Zweig and Ron Anthony accompanied by bassist Chuck Berghofer. Zweig and Anthony have particularly compatible styles--the former with a kind of rough-sounding, free-loping manner, the latter via smoothly articulated lines colored with smeared blues lines. And their three-tune set--particularly highlighted by a romp through “Crazy Rhythm” and an easy-swinging set of variations on “Falling in Love”--was classic jazz guitar playing at its best.

Their program was made even more appealing by the fact that, despite their maturity and skill, neither fell into the trap of offering repetitious musical cliches. What they played, in short, was as compelling and fascinating as the way in which they played it.

Ellis’ appearance was highlighted by the presence of a long table filled with family members. Eager to chronicle the performance, most members of the audience had cameras and small recording devices, and the performance was recorded via both audio and video. The opening set, however, was relatively brief, with Ellis joining Zweig, Anthony and Berghofer, and drummer Gregg Field stepping in on drums.

Perhaps appropriately, given his long and productive involvement with the form, the first number was a basic, straight-ahead tour through the familiar territory of the blues. At 79, Ellis is not the technician he once was, but his phrasing and his ability to spin out a colorful musical tale seemed in no way diminished.

His characteristically whimsical sense of humor came into play when he elected to take on the theme from “The Flintstones” as his second number. Here too, despite the rapid-paced tempo, he found a way to articulate his always attractive musical lines.

On the second set, Ellis was joined by Pisano and guitarist Mundell Lowe. But what became amply clear during this high-spirited evening was the fact that--if Ellis is really serious about retiring--his playing, his wit and his amiable presence will be greatly missed. It’s a safe bet that none of his many fans would object at all if he decided to do a year or so of farewell engagements before he finally gets around to hanging up his trusty guitar.