Jazz Reviews : Jazzman Mussolini Makes Rare L.A. Appearance

Mussolini. More than four decades since the end of World War II, and the name still produces emotional reverberations. Associating it with jazz seems almost inconceivable, yet Romano Mussolini, the piano-playing son of Il Duce, has been determiningly pursuing a career as an improvising musician for more than three of those decades.

Saturday afternoon, in one of his rare appearances in Los Angeles, Mussolini brought his regular working quintet to Perino’s restaurant for three gourmet lunch and dinner concerts. Despite the room’s well-deserved reputation as one of the area’s loveliest dining venues, its choice as the location for a very-high-ticket-price performance by a European jazz group was, to say the least, a bit strange.

But Mussolini made the best of it, bringing the room alive with a collection of brightly rhythmic jazz standards. The first three pieces--”Stompin’ at the Savoy,” “Flyin’ Home” and “Seven Come Eleven”--featured clarinetist Gianni St. Just and vibist Enzo Randisi in an effective imitation of the Benny Goodman Quartet, with St. Just, the group’s most gifted improviser, ripping off a series of highly articulate choruses.

Two Mussolini originals--a ballad titled “Love” and a rhythmic “Homage to Oscar Peterson”--gave the pianist his first extended opportunity to solo. A modestly talented technical performer, Mussolini wisely never pushed his lines past the limits of his skills, playing with crisp, understated rhythmic emphasis and a softly lyrical touch. (How strange to recall the strutting black-and-white newsreel images of the bombastic elder Mussolini while hearing the gentle musical stylings of his son in Perino’s elegantly pastel room.)

Mussolini’s bassist (Aldo Vigorito) and drummer (Wilfred Copello) provided youthfully vigorous support for the quintet’s readings. A brief interlude of Italian pop songs by singer Maria Kelly (who, despite the name, sang in Italian) had little to do with the balance of the program.