JAZZ / DIRK SUTRO : Bud Shank Drops Cool Jazz for Something That’s Hotter

Bud Shank is a man with a mission. A seminal figure during the California “Cool Jazz” years in the 1950s and something of a purist since then, Shank is changing his tune in the 1980s.

Not only has he dropped the flute from his repertoire to concentrate on alto sax, but his latest record was made with a group of young musicians who even use synthesizers. That’s almost as if Joan Kroc turned up at a barbecue wearing a Dodgers cap.

In the search for a fresh musical setting for Shank, one with some commercial potential, producer Richard Bock discovered a young group in San Francisco, led by Brazilian keyboard player Marcos Silva. When Bock passed away, Shank carried on as producer, and the Brazilian-flavored “Tomorrow’s Rainbow” album was released last week.

Of course, Shank has sambaed before, with Laurindo Almeida and Sergio Mendes in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Cool jazz? “I don’t play like that anymore. I’ve progressed since then.” As for the decision to concentrate on alto, “It’s too difficult to master two instruments. I picked the instrument I feel I play best, and I think I’ve really improved these past few years. But I don’t think I’ve reached my potential yet.”

Shank opened a two-week stay at Elario’s Wednesday night, backed by the house rhythm section of Mike Wofford, Jim Plank and Bob Magnusson.

It took “The Gong Show” to get three San Diego jazz singers serious about their music.

The a cappella group Pieces won a spot on the program last December. “It didn’t help us as far as a break in the industry, but it gave us enough confidence to pursue music on a more professional basis,” said Doug Pope, whose wife, Marie, and uncle, Karl Jones, round out the group.

Early this year, they auditioned for work at Horton Plaza and at Croce’s, and are now playing regularly at both.

Pieces has a long tradition to draw on. The idea of voices taking the place of instruments in a band dates back at least as far as the Mills Brothers, who by the early 1930s were nationally known for their tight ensemble work. The late ‘50s had Lambert Hendrick and Ross, and in more recent years, Manhattan Transfer, with its tremendous radio and concert popularity, has paved the way for newcomers like Pieces.

So just what can you expect from them?

The men stake out baritone and tenor parts, anchoring the bottom and filling the middle, with Doug Pope singing most of the lead melodies. Marie Pope’s voice roams over three octaves to fill in harmonies as needed.

At Horton Plaza, where Pieces will play outdoors from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays during May on the Sports Deck, the material tends toward the familiar: “Route 66,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “Teddy Bear” and “Darling, You Send Me.” But at Croce’s, where the band appears from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Mondays and from 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays during May, they stretch out, including a variety of jazz gems and a few of their own compositions.

In the continuing cross-pollination between jazz and Latin rhythms, percussionists Tito Puente and Poncho Sanchez have been important catalysts, and both will be playing in the San Diego area this weekend.

Sanchez grew up in Norwalk playing rock, blues or whatever would get his bands a gig. In the mid-’70s, he toured and recorded with Latin jazz fanatic Cal Tjader. Eventually, collaborating with timbale player Ramon Banda, Sanchez forged his own hybrid sound.

Unlike his mentor Tjader, Sanchez favors Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican rhythms over the traditional rhythms of Mexico. His shows, playing at the Bacchanal on Friday, typically feature his own compositions, along with his tangy interpretations of such jazz classics as Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia” and Lester Young’s “Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid.”

On Sunday, salsa king Puente and his orchestra appear at at 6 and 8:30 p.m. at the Tijuana Centro Cultural.

Educated at Juilliard, Puente was a driving force behind the fusion of Latin and jazz beginning in the late 1940s, when he formed a nine-piece group called The Picadilly Boys. Playing clubs like Birdland and Roseland, Puente added jazz rhythms to his Latin repertoire, while jazz players were, in turn, picking up South American ideas from performances by Puente and others at the Palladium Ballroom in New York, a hot spot for Latin music. Over the years, he has recorded with such Latin greats as Noro Morales and Pupi Campo, as well as Big Band leader Woody Herman.

SHORT RIFFS: The San Diego Jazz Festival wasn’t among several organizations recommended for a share of $5 million in city room tax money to be divided among several arts organizations. But the San Diego Jazz Society has been recommended for $12,800. The festival’s application came in a week late. Meanwhile, the two organizations appear headed for a tiff over names. After receiving a bill intended for the society, the festival fired off a letter from its attorney, asking the society (formerly the North Coast Jazz Society), and its organizer, John Lawrence, to consider a name change, to something less similar to the San Diego Jazz Festival. . . . San Diego jazz guitarist Peter Sprague and vocalist Kevyn Lettau appear at Diego’s Loft with their band tonight through Saturday. . . . Trumpeter Mitch Manker continues KSDS-FM’s (88.3) “Jazz Live” concert series May 9 with an 8 p.m. show in the City College theater. . . . Photographer Bradley Smith’s photos of jazz legends are on display through June 10 in an exhibit room at the UC San Diego Price Center, south of the central library. . . . Jazz is back for spring at the Full Moon Nightclub in Encinitas. On Sunday, it’s Latin jazz with World Beat.