JAZZ REVIEW : KLON Concert Reflects L.A. Music History

Segregation was so much a way of life in Los Angeles in the 1950s that two largely separate musical styles evolved. One, predominantly white and low calorie, was represented in a marathon concert dubbed “West Coast Jazz”presented Sunday by KLON at the John Anson Ford Theater. The other, generally more aggressive sound will be represented May 28 at a “Central Avenue Revisted” concert with a virtually all-black cast at the same venue.

This is not a value judgment. What was heard Sunday involved nine groups. Only two of the leaders were born and raised in Los Angeles, and only five now live here, but the opening set by Shorty Rogers’ Giants was typical of the neatly packaged, good-humored sounds Rogers built around an instrumentation similar to that of Miles Davis’ “Birth of the Cool” group.

The French horn and tuba were put to good use in “Bunny,” with Bill Perkins’ alto replacing that of the late Art Pepper, for whom it was written. The 10-piece band came alive more vividly with Bud Powell’s “Un Poco Loco,” and showed its blues credentials in “Martians Go Home,” with a minimalist clarinet solo by Jimmy Giuffre.

The planning left much to be desired. Three long sets by Bob Brookmeyer, Giuffre and Bob Cooper, all using the identical rhythm section, could better have been combined into a single, more diversified set using all three horns. However, Cooper’s solo set was distinguished by his reading of Duke Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss,” an eloquent offering that was clearly the crowd’s favorite of the exceedingly long event.

Hersh Hamel, a bassist, almost brought the show to a halt with his endless gab about the Chet Baker years. Finally, he played a decent enough Mulliganesque set with Bill Perkins as Mulligan and Bobby Shew as Baker.

The Dave Pell Octet was a trimmed-down version of the laid-back Shorty Rogers California trip, with Lucy Ann Polk recalling the era vocally.

A set by trumpeter Jack Sheldon, whose quintet was recently reviewed in the Times, was followed by a reunion of the Chico Hamilton Quintet, whose members deftly rekindled the spirit of that original group with handsome readings of “My Funny Valentine” and Buddy Collette’s “Blue Sands.”

Saxophonist Bud Shank had the dubious honor of closing the concert, which was running nearly two hours late; but he managed to maintain interest with a spirited, if somewhat dated, revival of his 1957 quartet.