Jazz Reviews : Golia Sextet Battles Ambiance at Al’s Bar

“We’re going to play a ballad now so you can hear the pinball machine,” announced Vinny Golia midway through his opening set at Al’s Bar in downtown Los Angeles. That statement summed up the problems facing the local jazz saxophonist’s sextet during its uneven, hourlong performance.

With the band sandwiched between electronic game noises on one side and pool table chatter and clatter on the other Sunday, any delicate musical passages faced serious environmental obstacles. And the unforgiving cement walls meant that drummer Alex Cline usually (and inadvertently) overwhelmed the band with volume whenever he attempted to do more than serve as the ensemble’s rhythmic anchor.

Golia’s compositions featured long, angular themes that usually resolved in unexpected and intriguing harmonies from the saxophone-trombone-trumpet front line. The pieces were laced with counter-melodies, which occasionally led to delightful passages like the funky trombone, drum and piano riff supporting Ken Filiano’s bowed bass solo on “Not Used.”

But Golia miscalculated by focusing too much on playing soprano sax when his rich, robust tone on tenor tapped into a deeply spiritual vein which merited more extensive exploration. That was only one example of a set where fine individual components--notably the subtle color and textural variations introduced by Cline’s percussion and Wayne Peet’s electric keyboards--fell out of sync as often as they jelled.