Jazz Reviews : Saxman Ray Pizzi Shows His Pizazz at Residuals

One of the Valley’s best-kept jazz secrets is Residuals, a pleasant drinking establishment tucked away in the back of a Ventura Boulevard mini-mall in Studio City. While the bar regularly features sports on TV as its entertainment, the stage has been given to jazz on Sunday nights.

Since August, the featured leader has been reedman Ray Pizzi who, this past Sunday evening, was having his usual bit of fun with the music and the crowd. A request for a particular song was answered in typical Pizzi fashion by saying “No, but we’re gonna play one with a lot of the same notes.”

Working in a quartet with guitarist Barry Zweig, bassist John Leitham and drummer Denny Seiwell, Pizzi led the group through a musically captivating four-tune second set of standards that provided each of the players with an apt showcase for his talents.

The set opened with “Alone Together,” an easy swinging tune that had Pizzi contrasting the smooth-as-silk melody line with his wildly jagged improvisations on the tenor saxophone. Pizzi pushed the song to its limits as he explored the tune’s possibilities. A particularly fine moment came from the sax-and-drums foray in which Seiwell was marvelously inventive in his role as timekeeper.

“One Note Samba” featured Pizzi on the flute. Using his familiar technique of scatting through the instrument with a series of grunts, groans and guffaws (though he’s been able to still the thousands at the Monterey Jazz Festival with this technique, the packed Residuals failed to pay much attention), he instilled new life in the tired, old song. Similarly, Zweig found a lot of useful melody for his energetic single-note solo improvisations.

After a beautiful rendition of “My Funny Valentine,” in which Pizzi and Zweig were appropriately emotive, the band found expression in Ray Noble’s be-bop classic “Cherokee.” Performed at a breakneck tempo, the tune provided a great setting for each player, with bassist Leitham offering the final bit of evidence of his quite amazing talent.