JAZZ REVIEWS : LAND-BRASHEAR QUINTET IN BENEFIT

Donte’s, normally in operation six days a week, opened its doors Sunday to host a fund-raiser staged by the International Assn. of Jazz Appreciation, whose officers aim to provide jazz concerts and education for public schools.

Music for the occasion was provided by the Harold Land-Oscar Brashear Quintet. Land’s tenor saxophone has been a staple for many years in the Gerald Wilson orchestra, with which he still works, but the small group setting gives him an extended opportunity to display a long-matured style.

Though lightly touched by the impact of John Coltrane, Land remains loyal to the principles of tonality and a hard-driving pulse that had taken shape long before the modal era. He is at his most compelling when he delineates the harmonic contrasts of such a superior theme as “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes.”

Brashear’s trumpet, sharing the melody statements with Land, helps establish the quintet’s powerful personality. As a soloist he’s comparable to Freddie Hubbard, though perhaps lacking a little of the latter’s dynamic diversity. His searing horn provided some of the group’s most vigorous moments.

Land’s rhythm team is notable for the presence of his son, Harold Land Jr., whose solos within the context of the combo were more engaging than his somewhat florid solo number. Albert (Tootie) Heath on drums and Richard Reid on bass, veterans of the local scene, helped convey a brand of West Coast energy long claimed by myopic New Yorkers to be non-existent in the Southland. It’s regrettable that groups of this caliber are seldom heard in the Valley clubs.