POP MUSIC REVIEW : Shearing and Torme Joke the Night Away : By BILL KOHLHASSE

As a pair, George Shearing and Mel Torme work together as well as Burns and Allen, Martin and Lewis or Abbott and Costello. At least those are the names that came to mind Sunday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, where the two joked their way through a good part of the evening. A rendition of “Send in the Clowns”? No need. The clowns were already on stage.

Shearing, with bassist Neil Swainson, opened his half of the evening soberly enough with a crisp “This Can’t Be Love.” The pianist glided smoothly between the changes, soloed with wit and authority and kept the tempo hopping. At one point, he broke into a rag, pumping with his left hand while getting that barrelhouse sound from his right.

Swainson, needing more amplification, was difficult to pick out of the mix--a pity, not because Shearing needed the support but because the bassist plays with the same control and intelligence as his mentor. For his solo, Swainson grabbed attention by jumping to the high end, plucking clean, melodic notes before sliding into a deeper voice. He and Shearing chased each other down the scale until both jumped back into the theme.

Shearing then paid tribute to his bop heritage with a Bud Powell piece and Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl.” Both tunes opened with the duo stating the theme in a speedy unison before Shearing broke away with his fluid chording.

Then the high jinks began. While promising to identify the first three numbers, Shearing got sidetracked, telling the audience how he likes to substitute the word “lunch” for “love” in song titles (“I’m in the Mood for Lunch,” etc.). Then it was on to famous husband and wife teams (Aretha and Benjamin Franklin), a long story about a drunk driver and the first of many quips about his blindness. The capacity crowd seemed to enjoy these asides as much as the music.

Things got serious again during Parker’s “Donna Lee,” played at breakneck speed, and classical treatments of “Night and Day” and “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was,” the latter featuring an eerie single-note drone.

After a few more laughs, Shearing closed the set with his own “Lullaby of Birdland.” The pianist moved so seamlessly and with such invention through his theme song that, considering his previous jokes, one is tempted to say he could play it with his eyes closed.

After intermission, Shearing appeared with the portly Torme on his arm and, in an evening stuffed with medleys, the two moved into an upbeat blend of “Just One of Those Things” and “On Green Dolphin Street.” Though Torme’s velvet shows some rayon and his fog burned off long ago, the vocalist showed he still has a unique sense of rhythm and can swing as well as any instrumentalist. He has a tender, heartfelt way with a ballad and his scat singing is hot and quick-witted.

But Torme couldn’t resist getting into the comedy act and soon was spinning yarns about the age of the audience at their last concert (“Old people live in Miami, their parents live in Sarasota.”). A particularly obnoxious story about the gold cheese grater he gave Shearing as a gift (“The most gruesome novel I’ve ever read,” said the pianist) finally gave way to a medley from “Guys and Dolls” with Torme tearing up “Luck Be a Lady.”

The duo teased the crowd with “New York, New York,” Shearing playing its all-too-familiar introduction, while Torme sang “Me and My Gal,” “Mack the Knife” and “How High the Moon” over the top. Torme impressed the crowd with long-winded, sustained tones but cut the effect by mugging exhaustion after each one.

A number of standing ovations brought the pair out for encore tributes to Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald, with Torme doing some Yiddish scat for the “Jewish be-bop fans.”

I enjoy a little banter with the audience as much as the next fan but can’t remember a time outside of the cabarets when stage presence cut so much into musical presentation. It’s a shame because both these men are genuine jazz treasures. And that’s no joke.