JAZZ / DIRK SUTRO : With Its Power, Take 6 Has Fans Hearing Voices

Saxophonist Gerry Mulligan’s pianoless quartets of the 1950s were considered progressive. How could you sustain the music without a complete rhythm section? Players like Bud Shank (flute and sax) deleted drums, placing the rhythmic burden even more on the shoulders of musicians traditionally taxed with melodic and harmonic responsibilities.

So it’s not hard to imagine the bravado of going it with no rhythm section at all--in fact, without instruments. A cappella groups such as Take 6, which plays the Open Air Theatre at San Diego State University on Monday, are the equivalent of the tightrope walker working without a net. One slip and it all comes tumbling down.

That’s not likely to happen Monday. The six members of the group are spiritually inclined, Gospel-oriented young men, four of whom put the band together in 1980 after meeting at a small Southern Christian college. They have enough vocal power and skill to create a full orchestra. Or, as one writer put it, they’re something like a six-headed Bobby McFerrin.

They call their music “contemporary Christian pop jazz.” On a song like “Milky White Way,” from their first and only album, soaring voices carry the inspirational melody, spinning it out like lines from alto and soprano saxes, high over the baritone and tenors that keep the pace and anchor the bottom like bass and drums.

A cappella jazz has a history of enthusiastic acceptance among listeners. Maybe this has to do with the inevitable human quality of the sound, with no instruments or electronics between raw inspiration and execution. Probably, it’s also because the music selected by Take 6 and its predecessors, among them the Mills Brothers, Manhattan Transfer and Lambert Hendricks and Ross, tends to be uplifting, whether or not it is spiritually oriented.

In the case of Take 6, all Seventh-day Adventists, they see themselves as “ministers of music,” carrying a religious message beyond the walls of the church.

All still in their 20s, the members are enjoying phenomenal success with their year-old album. It’s about to go gold (500,000 copies). Their 8 p.m. San Diego show is a stop on their two-month tour with fellow vocalist Al Jarreau, who shares the bill.

Jarreau’s efforts in the ‘70s and early ‘80s were often be-bop-inspired, his smooth scat runs winning him critical approval and a Grammy in 1977.

Although his newest album, the 1988 “Heart’s Horizon,” includes the Take 6-ish “Yo’ Jeans,” an a cappella duet with Bobby McFerrin, the material generally tends away from jazz toward pop and rhythm and blues, with light melodies and danceable rhythms. Jarreau, too, is enjoying sales success. “Heart’s Horizon” has sold more than 400,000, and Reprise, his record company, is starting to see gold.

The fight for consumers among San Diego’s many malls has proven a boon to local jazz musicians, who are being used as a lure for shoppers. Three years ago, Fashion Valley was one of the first to book regular jazz performances when they featured local acts every Sunday. With several other malls now in the fray, Fashion Valley marketing director Marilee Bankert decided to one-up the competition this year, bringing in national light acts such as Free Flight, David Arkenstone, Grant Geissman and, coming July 9, Kim Pensyl. Bankert says the performances, co-promoted with KIFM (98.1), are logical because the station and the shopping center are after the same target: 25- to 49-year-old “upscale” consumers. The name acts help draw shoppers from all over the county, not just nearby communities, Bankert said. Malls booking local jazz include Chula Vista Shopping Center (Fridays from noon to 2 p.m.), Horton Plaza (occasional jazz, Mondays through Fridays, noon to 2 p.m.) and University Towne Centre (Wednesdays, lunchtime).

Malls aren’t the only place to catch outdoor jazz for free. John Lawrence and his San Diego Jazz Society are presenting a series of six summer concerts in two Carlsbad parks, funded by the Carlsbad Arts Council. The next one is at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Stagecoach Park off Mission Estancia in La Costa, featuring San Diego vocalist Coral Thuet in front of a band including excellent local pianist Randy Porter. The July 7 evening show, also at Stagecoach Park, showcases the work of Joy of Sax, led by John Rekevics--serious jazz leavened with saxual puns.

RIFFS: Hollis Gentry’s Acoustic Quartet appears tonight through Saturday at Diego’s Loft in Pacific Beach. The group usually concentrates on standards, but saxophonist Gentry said he may break out a few of his own mainstream originals for the first time. . . . Members of Acoustic Alchemy, the British jazz guitar group in town for a performance last week, checked out Gentry’s fusion group Neon at the Catamaran last Wednesday. L. A. tenor sax man Kirk Whalen took the stage for an impromptu jam with Gentry. . . . San Diego flutist Lori Bell plays the Hilton’s Sunday brunch this Sunday from 11 to 2. She’ll concentrate on Brazilian music. . . . Dorothy Griska, the new owner of Words & Music Book Gallery in Hillcrest, says she plans to continue the store’s series of occasional jazz concerts. Next up is vocalist Cath Eckert on July 9. . . . Drummer Tony Williams’ June 19 show at the City College Theater was a success, with 220 of 250 tickets sold. Co-presenters KSDS-FM (88.3) and the San Diego Jazz Festival are looking to do more jazz together soon.