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2 Who Went Back to Basics Are Getting Back Together

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While other rising saxophone players took their cues from obvious sources--Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, sometimes Coleman Hawkins--Joe Henderson’s path kept him closer to musicians who never quite received star status. This has been a blessing; his playing is more on the fringe, his influences well-hidden and richly blended.

Tenor player Henderson is in town for a two-week reunion of sorts with pianist and former band mate George Cables at Elario’s. Early in his career, Henderson hooked up with trumpeter Kenny Dorham, who has only recently been recognized as a significant innovator. Their 1960s recordings explored Latin rhythms.

Henderson has said that saxophonist Sonny Rollins was his strongest early inspiration, a fact that shows in his ability to choose easily from a variety of musical tools--one minute playing straight, fluid bop lines, the next taking a tune to a realm of odd harmonies, honking and screaming.

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Both Henderson and Cables have flirted with so-called “fusion” music; Cables played electric piano in Henderson’s group roughly 20 years ago. Today, though, both men have returned to the basics, Henderson preferring his tenor in raw, sparse settings, and Cables settling some time ago on acoustic piano as his instrument of choice.

Henderson’s newest album is “The State of the Tenor,” a moody, electrifying outing at the Village Vanguard in the company of bass player Ron Carter and drummer Al Foster, a concise six-song session whose composers range from Horace Silver to Thelonious Monk to Charles Mingus to Henderson himself.

One of Henderson’s significant career experiences was with trumpeter Woody Shaw, who died recently.

“I was with him two years,” Henderson said. “It was a very interesting pairing. I felt very comfortable on the bandstand with him because he was such a tremendously talented musician. I’m a few years older than Woody, and I may have had something to do with whatever he was about musically.” Some years later, Shaw rejoined Henderson in a band that included Cables.

Besides playing, Henderson teaches students in his San Francisco home, finding that his proteges often provide the fresh musical outlook he’s after.

Later this year, he hopes to assemble a big band to record his own compositions.

Henderson and Cables, backed by Marshall Hawkins on bass and San Diegan Jim Plank on drums, opened a two-week stay at Elario’s Wednesday night. This is Henderson’s second visit to San Diego--the first was a gig at the Catamaran in the 1960s.

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San Diego sax man Bill Shreeve leads both a contemporary jazz sextet and an all-acoustic, straight-ahead jazz quartet. Unlike some folks, he doesn’t believe either brand of music is superior.

“I think that there’s a lot of closed-mindedness regarding contemporary stuff. Obviously, we have some very advanced players--some of the best players right now are playing what is considered ‘fusion’: Chick Corea, Michael Brecker. In my opinion, jazz fusion is just another form of musical expression. I think traditional jazz and some of the older forms are great ways to express oneself, but fusion is difficult in that it has more highly arranged parts for each musician to play, and it requires more rehearsal.”

Shreeve studied at San Diego State University and San Diego City College, playing in the schools’ big bands. Additionally, he studied with local sax masters Charles McPherson and Paul Sundfor, not known for their love of light, contemporary jazz. Shreeve, who plays soprano, alto, tenor, flute and a Yamaha WX-7 Wind Midi Controller, likes the work of young sax players Michael Brecker, Eric Marienthal and Gerald Albright. He’s written a lot of material for his sextet, and hopes to get the band into a studio soon.

Just done with a long run on KIFM’s Lites Out Jazz circuit, Shreeve’s sextet makes a one-night stop at the Hilton’s Cargo Bar on May 25.

Shreeve’s cohorts on the Lites Out circuit, Flight 7, are enjoying increasing national popularity with their new album, “Sky High.”

“We had reached the point where we were getting played in 50 states,” said Don Schoenberger, the group’s drummer, “but the way it was put to us, the Wave (KSWV at 102.9 FM) is the big syndicated station, and unless we made Chicago and New York, it didn’t mean a thing. Just within the last couple of weeks, they’ve started playing us.”

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Different markets have taken a liking to different tunes. Local radio stations play “Leroy’s Garage” and “Tara’s Tune,” both instrumentals, while in Chicago, “Take a Chance,” with vocals by Rose Riedel, is the favorite.

During May, Flight 7 is playing Sunday nights at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island and Wednesday through Saturday nights at the Rusty Pelican across from University Towne Centre.

SHORT RIFFS: At Croce’s, 5th Avenue at F Street in the Gaslamp Quarter: tonight, Shep Meyers Quartet; Friday night, Tobacco Road; Saturday brunch, Daniel Jackson. . . . Club Sax recently replaced the TNT Club at 6323 Imperial Ave., changing the format to jazz. The club--which was named in honor of Leroy Brown, the sax-playing father of Gil Brown, who owns the club with his wife, Karen--features jazz Thursday through Sunday nights from 6:30 until 10. Tonight and Sunday, its the Sugar Trio on organ, sax and drums. Friday and Saturday nights, its a group called Zzaj. . . . Hollis Gentry’s Acoustic Quartet plays Diego’s Loft in Pacific Beach tonight through Saturday night. . . . Gentry’s Neon leaves Sunday for a Monday-night gig in Yuma, Ariz. With their new album getting national airplay, including on 12 Wave stations and on Art Good’s Jazz Trax show in 27 U. S. markets, Neon plans to be on the road two weekends a month. Bookings already include San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York.

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