JAZZ REVIEW : RUSS FREEMAN STUFFS ‘EM IN

The surprise one patron expressed at the full house packing the Baked Potato on Monday was one indication of the rapid strides Russ Freeman has made in his career this year. His “Nocturnal Playground” album is knocking on the door of the Top 10 in the jazz charts, and the command of fusion fundamentals the 26-year-old guitarist/composer displayed during the 90-minute set showed that he could become a regular fixture there.

Freeman stressed composition and ensemble interaction over instrumental prowess throughout the set. He cannily used the guitar synthesizer to lend tonal variety and dashes of musical color by switching between an ethereal, flute-like tone and a broader horn sound on separate sections of the same piece.

The emphasis on texture and melody played to Freeman’s musical strengths even as the arsenal of electronic effects masked some weaknesses in his playing. His occasional rhythm comping was unimpressive and his solos came close to ham-fisted heavy rock grinding on the few times he employed a pure guitar tone.

His sextet was composed of younger musicians who took their inspiration from the artists who first blended jazz, rock and funk elements in the early ‘70s. These are children of the fusion generation making easy-listening music for new age fans, not the jazz old guard or experimental school.

Drummer Tony Morales’ crisp, authoritative drumming and Steve Reid’s animated extra percussion gave the vaguely Latin pulse underlying much of the material enough bite to often raise it above the level of fuzak fodder.

The strong audience response indicated that Freeman, who appears Thursday at Bon Appetit in Westwood, has a good handle on the musical elements that spell mass appeal in the jazz world these days. The challenge facing Freeman is whether he’ll settle for that or strive to expand the parameters of the often stultifying fusion genre.