JAZZ REVIEW : Jones, Person Stick to Path of Integrity

Etta Jones and Houston Person may be the last survivors of a fondly remembered breed: The traveling jazz show, complete with leader, sidemen and vocalist, bringing unpretentious, unhyphenated jazz to audiences around the country for better than 200 nights a year.

Some of those nights are presently being spent at the Vine St. Bar & Grill, where Jones and Person opened Friday and will be on hand again Wednesday through Saturday. As has been his custom throughout their 20 years as a team, Person started off with a group of instrumentals.

His tenor saxophone is steeped in tradition, doing no violence to the melodies and concentrating on such well-entrenched works as “There’s No You,” “Day Dream” and “Triste.” The fullness and warmth of his sound is well-buttressed by the engaging piano of Stan Hope, with Peter Martin Weiss on bass and drummer Cecil Brooks III flowing along in this easygoing mainstream.

After five numbers, Etta Jones made her bow. The ready smile, the slight sob in her tones, the sensitive use of melisma and the occasional tendency to lag behind the beat recalled two important influences: Jones came up in the era of Dinah Washington (her first recording, in 1944, consisted of cover versions of Washington’s hits) and Billie Holiday, who was represented Friday by Jones’ last two songs, “Crazy He Calls Me” and “Laughing at Life.” Nevertheless, she sounds exclusively like Etta Jones.

The backing and filling by Person’s horn stressed the emotional depths of which Jones, today more than ever, is capable. She was singing soulful jazz before the term soul music was coined, and her partnership with Person has kept the two of them in a straight and narrow path that continues to spell integrity.