JAZZ REVIEW : Bassist Leslie Baker in Hollywood

Add the name of Leslie Baker to the list of capable bassists around town. Fronting a trio, Baker went up against the varied distractions offered atop the Hollywood Holiday Inn and proved to be every bit as entertaining as the revolving tier of dining tables, a massive buffet and the wide-angle views of the smoggy horizon. This is a room where the tune “On a Clear Day” takes on a special irony.

To her advantage, Baker has been a student of Red Callender, the local treasure who is often credited with pointing bassist Charles Mingus in the right direction. Her improvisations Sunday stayed close to each tune’s melody and, like Mingus, she wisely stuck to the instrument’s bottom end when making a statement. Her strengths were best seen in support of a soloist as she kept a steady pulse and walked with a bit of a bounce.

Aiding the cause was pianist Brian O’Rourke, whose melodic, chord-heavy approach to a solo was punctuated with suggestions of offbeat tunes like Vince Guaraldi’s theme for “A Boy Named Charlie Brown.” Drummer Jack Le Compte used tasteful brushwork to keep the rhythms understated so as not to overwhelm the sound of Baker and O’Rourke.

Al Aarons joined the trio to add breathy fluegelhorn lines to a relaxed version of “All the Things You Are.” Aarons stuck around for Miles Davis’ “Four,” which he graced with delicate muted trumpet. Jobim’s “Trieste” was snapped into shape by Le Compte’s rim accents, while O’Rourke showed a bit of “Fever” during “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise.”

The bassist was at her most assertive during a bluesy “Next Time I See You,” singing its lyric with smooth conviction, then saying with her instrument what she was unable to pull from her voice. She is definitely a musician with promise.