FUNK’S THE FUEL FOR MOUZON’S MUSE

Funk is the key to the brand of fusion jazz that drummer Alphonse Mouzon brought to Concerts by the Sea Thursday evening as he and his trio began a four-night stint at the Redondo Beach club.

Fast or slow, loud or not so loud, things were funky. Interminably funky. Funky to the point of tedium.

Mouzon, a technically superb player, took the mechanical route during his 10-tune opening set and allowed his right foot to kick his muffled bass drum with unvarying steadfastness of a kerpluckita-kerpluckita machine. There was barely a two- or four-beat that the sparse audience wasn’t reminded of with a crack on the snare drum. If Mouzon missed a beat, electric bassist Tim Landers was there to crack his thumb against a string to fill the void.

Yet within this simplistic rhythmic framework came a few dashing moments of polyrhythmic drumming, some agreeably melodic writing (most of it by Mouzon) and a whole lot of impressive saxophone work from David Koz.

That Koz could manage to shine in such a study is testament to his talent. While many of the melodies, written over short chordal patterns, were pleasant, there wasn’t much meat for the voracious saxophonist. Nonetheless, he consistently met the challenge, garnering from each tune enough to inspire his own improvisations. He was especially effective on “The Jean Pierre,” a funky ballad, and the blithely funky “Starting All Over Again.”

Keyboardist Brad Cole, in a largely supportive role with his battery of electronic instruments, was so busy synthesizing effects that it wasn’t until the rhythmically shuffling “one more time” came around that he was able to solo in a relaxed and swinging manner.

The band’s best efforts came during the opening “St. Thomas,” a jazz standard by Sonny Rollins, and the closing “Seven Steps to Heaven,” a tune from the Miles Davis book that was slightly marred when Mouzon, during his synthesized drum solo, perfectly re-created the sounds of a busy video arcade.

Is even fusion jazz ready for Pac-Man as side man?