MUSIC REVIEWS : VIOLINIST GREENE & CO. AT LATC

Eclecticism can often be its own worst enemy. There’s something off-putting about an artist merrily genre-hopping while paying only passing attention to such mundane matters as continuity and style.

Yet, there is also something endearing about an artist who shows no interest in playing it safe.

Lanky violinist Richard Greene--vibrant with nervous energy--presented a diverse, and mildly diverting, program at the Los Angeles Theatre Center on Monday, giving credence to his reputation as a respected jazz-rock-bluegrass musician.

He was at his best with a tight, electrified band, jammed onto--and often above--the cramped Tom Bradley Theatre stage, housing the multitiered set for “The Quartered Man.”

He was, however, a fish out of water when he fearlessly ventured into the world of straight-ahead “classical” music.

In Greene’s jazzy arrangement of a duo for violin and oboe (John Clark) by French Baroque composer Jean-Marie Leclair, in the violinist’s rock setting of a theme by L. Subramaniam and in a pair of his own compositions, the crack band (Clark; Van Dyke Parks, keyboards; Tim Emmons, bass; Joe Correro, drums; Brian Otto, electric guitar) impressed with its craftsmanship and energy.

Also pleasing was a duet with Parks on an old Joe Venuti-Eddie Lang swing piece, “Wild Cat.”

Unfortunately, the evening got off to a slow start, as Greene seated himself in the first violinist’s chair of a string quartet. Evidently, he was dead serious: The opening work was Henry Cowell’s String Quartet No. 4. Greene and violinist Margaret Wooten, violist Roxann Jacobson and cellist Gloria Strassner gave a studious reading. The notes were there (sort of), but a sense of ensemble was not.

A Gershwin medley, featuring Greene’s semi-improvised decorations, improved matters, as did a clever setting of “Turkey in the Straw.” But a Kurt Weill ditty, the “Youkali Tango,” resulted in an embarrassing error in staging: Perched above the quartet--joined by Parks on accordion--a very uncomfortable-looking couple (Joe Cazini and Rene Victor) tangoed around a postage-stamp stage.

Also falling flat was an ambitious setting for everyone (except the dancers) of an excerpt from Ravel’s “Tombeau de Couperin.”

In fact, ambition often seemed to get the better of the multi-talented Greene. His love for all the music he ventured was obvious, but his mastery of many of its intricacies remained questionable.