DAVID WEISS AT BOWL: SAWING IS BELIEVING

Walk my way, and a thousand violins begin to play. . . .

--”Misty” by Johnny Burke and Erroll Garner

When members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic launch into Burke and Garner’s classic love song tonight and Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl, those “thousand violins” (well, about 30, actually) will be joined by one musical saw.

And history will be made.

“Yes, I’ve done some research and I’m quite certain this is the first time a musical saw has been played during a concert at the Bowl,” David Weiss asserts. No one is likely to disagree. How many have had the technical tools, as it were, to elevate the saw from its lowly position as an instrument associated more with backwoods barn dances than symphonic concerts?

Well, according to Weiss, at least one.

“Of all the saw players today, I’m the one with the most ‘classical’ background. I have the acuteness of pitch so important to successful playing.” That unerring pitch comes mostly from the 38-year-old musician’s day job--principal oboe with the Philharmonic.

Where did Weiss first see the saw? “I didn’t even know about it until four years ago. Guido Lamell (a violinist with the Philharmonic) introduced me to it. The sound was so unexpected, I was immediately drawn to it.”

He was also a quick learner. In the fall of 1982, newcomer Weiss astonished crowds at the hotly contested Festival of the Saws in Santa Cruz by capturing second place. Subsequent appearances on “The Tonight Show” (most recently on Wednesday) didn’t hurt his reputation either.

The big step to the Bowl stage was inevitable.

“I went to Ernest (Fleischmann, executive director of the Philharmonic) and told him I wanted to play my saw. ‘The Great American Concert’ (as the pops program is billed) seemed the perfect opportunity.”

Weiss will be soloist in “The American Music Medley,” the first work ever assembled for saw and orchestra, according to the suite’s arranger, Gary Mandell.

Weiss and Mandell seem serious about the piece, though it’s hard not to chuckle at the thought of a tuxedoed classical musician pressing a $7 Stanley Handyman between his knees and drawing out mournful tones before 17,000 people.

“I’m not making any kind of statement,” Weiss says. “I’m simply saying, ‘Here is the saw. Listen to the beautiful sounds it can make.’ ”

Mandell, an instructor at McCabe’s Guitar Shop and a neighbor of Weiss’ (“I’m the best arranger on the block,” he quips), sees nothing funny about the saw: “Music is making sounds. It doesn’t have to be played on an expensive instrument. Think about the violin. You stretch catgut over a box and draw horsehair over it. If you’d never seen one and someone described it, wouldn’t you be skeptical?”

Such defensive talk is unnecessary. Weiss’ musicianship speaks for itself--notably in a recently released record, “Virtuoso Saw,” on Cut Time Records (the cleverness of the label’s name, along with the logo of a saw curving into an oboe, lead one to the correct conclusion that Weiss is Cut Time).

“I wanted to stress the lyrical side of the saw, rather than the sound effects aspect,” Weiss said of the record, produced and arranged by Mandell. Several tunes on the album are included in “The American Music Medley,” from “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” and “Summertime” to “Misty” and “Sweet Georgia Brown.”

To Weiss, the Bowl concerts are simply another step in the inevitable rise in popularity of this “true folk instrument.”

Mandell, too, has his hopes up. “We’re counting on the concert generating interest in the record. I expect the album to go plywood by the end of the year.”

Any chance of an original work for saw and orchestra? “I haven’t started on the piece,” Mandell replies. “But I already have the title.” He gives a sinister smile. Weiss hides his eyes.

“I’m calling it ‘The Worst Saw Concerto.’ ”