POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Keyboardist Siegel Turns In On-Again, Off-Again Show With Band at Coach House

Keyboardist and composer Dan Siegel turned in one of those on-again, off-again affairs Thursday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano where the bright moments were counterbalanced by factors that diminished the performance’s overall impact.

The Orange County-based Siegel played pop/jazz tunes that fall mostly into the “pretty” category, though a couple had a welcome rough-and-tumble feel. But these compositions, with their brief snippets of sugary melody strung together into a tenuous whole, ultimately became a blur of peppy sound. There just wasn’t enough special and distinctive about them to make any one, even the title from his new Epic LP, “Northern Nights,” stand out.

To his credit, Siegel organized what there was to these tunes--”Hip Pocket,” “Feelin’ Happy,” “Take a Chance,” among others--with pizazz, neatly throwing melody sections back and forth among himself, guitarist Carl Verheyen and reedman Gary Herbig. And the group, which also included bassist Ed Alton and drummer Ron Ashton, delivered the songs with crisp precision that, far from being cold, gave the performance a certain appeal. As time wore on, however, the repetitive nature of the material, coupled with a lack of nuance, dimmed some of that appeal.

The leader also made sure that at least some sense of dynamics was employed, and the band came way down in volume at the start of most of his solos, then built gradually to a louder level underneath him. Verheyen and Herbig were not so lucky, as they often had to fight above a high decibel onslaught when they stood in the spotlight.

Siegel was an effective soloist, working off one electronic keyboard, eschewing the instrument’s myriad of sound possibilities to stick mainly with tones similar to either the acoustic grand piano or the Fender Rhodes. When improvising, he played short, stinging ideas that had plenty of rhythmic zest, and when he found one he liked, he offered it a few times before going on to the next musical thought.

Occasionally, he’d knock out a long, slithering line, but he left that style mainly to Verheyen, who swayed between screeching wails and furious flurries, and Herbig, who danced with ease in his saxophones’ highest range.

If Siegel would concoct more interesting tunes and vary their style to provide needed contrast, his show would improve dramatically.

Singer-songwriter Kerry Getz, accompanying herself on a steel-stringed acoustic guitar, opened with an overlong set of pop/folk originals. Though she revealed little individuality--her songs and approach alternately reminded one of Rickie Lee Jones, Bonnie Raitt, Joni Mitchell and John Prine--when her attractive soprano slid gracefully into high, bell-clear tones, it brought pleasure.