JAZZ REVIEW : CHEATHAM AT ALLEYCAT

The Alleycat Bistro, fast becoming the most adventurous new jazz room in town, took a calculated risk by bringing in over the weekend an eight-piece San Diego-based band led by pianist/blues singer Jeannie Cheatham and her trombonist husband, Jimmy.

The gamble paid off. Because of heavy air play for the group’s two albums, the room was packed Friday evening as the Cheathams went through their cheerfully old-timey motions. Jeannie Cheatham, who came up in an era when blues giants, both pianists and singers, roamed the earth, reflect their influences, rocking through songs that are older than newsprint (“Roll ‘Em Pete,” “C. C. Rider”) and a few originals that recall the values of vaudeville days (“Finance Company Blues,” “Sweet Bab Blues”).

Jimmy Cheatham writes the arrangements for the five horns and rhythm section, playing an occasional gruff chorus on a muted bass trombone. The principal soloists are trumpeter Snooky Young, one of the band’s three Los Angeles members, and saxophonist Curtis Peagler, clearly a Charlie Parker partisan, though his tenor sax showed better discipline and intonation than his alto.

A nostalgic interlude was “Sweet Lorraine,” played as a duo by clarinetist Jimmy Noone Jr. and bassist Red Callender. Using the horn’s attractive lower register, Noone evoked memories of his father, who recorded the song almost 60 years ago and inspired Nat Cole to singing.

The three saxes had trouble staying in tune in the ensemble packages, but this was a small price to pay for the spirit and authenticity they generated. To paraphrase an old blues lyric: A man could go to college, and go to music school; if he doesn’t play the blues he’s still an educated fool. The Cheathams and their friends are nobody’s fools.