Jazz Reviews : Riley Serves Up a Taste of New Orleans in Hollywood

Mardi Gras is upon us, and the celebrations began in style, both musical and gustatory, when “Windows On Hollywood,” the Sunday jazz brunch at the Holiday Inn on Highland, turned over its balloon-festooned bandstand to a sextet led by New Orleans’ own Herman Riley.

Given a special spread that took in everything from crab cakes and crawfish to red beans and rice, it was no surprise to find Riley matching the mood by picking up his clarinet for a rousing workout on “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue.”

The Southern flavor was further accentuated by the presence of two other New Orleans products, veteran drummer Earl Palmer and guitarist Terry Evans. Non-Southerners Al Aarons on trumpet and fluegelhorn, Gildo Mahones on piano and bassist Louie Spears came equipped with the necessary knowledge of a wide-ranging repertoire.

Though Riley is best known as a bop-inclined tenor saxophonist, on this occasion he showed enough adaptability to change the group’s color scheme from song to song. The New Orleans visit was followed by a touch of Rio as he switched to flute for Jobim’s “Wave.” A trip to the Caribbean found him in vigorous form on tenor in “St. Thomas,” and echoes of 52nd Street informed the old monk tune “In Walked Bud.”

Since no jam session today seems complete without a few choruses are “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise,” the sextet took this in stride too, with Riley on yet a fifth instrument, the soprano sax--not his longest or strongest suit, but handled well enough to leave the right impression: Here is a musician capable of far more diversity, both in stylistic and instrumental media, than he normally has a chance to display.

Evans’ hard-driving guitar and Aarons’ muted trumpet and fluegelhorn stood out in this versatile ad hoc unit. Without arrangements or rehearsal, this festive rooftop session on a Sunday afternoon brought the Fat Tuesday spirit winningly to life.