JAZZ / DIRK SUTRO : Sax Man Clifford Jordan Has a Fondness for Sweets

Saxophonist Clifford Jordan mixed his smooth, warm sound with the similarly rich fluegelhorn of Art Farmer at Elario’s last week. This week, Jordan is back at Elario’s, appearing through Sunday with trumpeter Harry (Sweets) Edison.

“He’s a man I’ve been listening to since I was a little boy,” Jordan said. “I don’t want him to change a note. The first chance I had to play with him was the International Jazz Festival in Bern, Switzerland, a couple of years ago, with Oscar Peterson and friends. This will be the first time we’ve gotten together extensively.”

Edison, now in his 70s, has been one of jazz’s top players since the 1930s. Many of his trademark muted solos were recorded with Count Basie’s band between 1938 and 1950. Subsequently, he’s played with Red Norvo, Barney Kessel, Lionel Hampton, Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

Jordan’s mellow sound is particularly well suited to ballads. “I was first influenced by Tab Smith, the alto man. Then Johnny Hodges, people like that. When I was young, we had a record with Diz (Dizzy Gillespie) and Bird (Charlie Parker), but we didn’t want to hear that, just Slam Stewart. Slam was the main focal point at the time.”

For most of his career, Jordan has played tenor, but two years ago he added soprano sax to his repertoire.

“With soprano you have to be more delicate with your intonation,” he said. “It has a tendency to play out of tune.”

Jordan and Edison will be backed by locals Mike Wofford on piano, Bob Magnusson on bass and Jim Plank on drums, fresh off his dates with the San Diego Symphony’s SummerPops series. Jordan expects the music to focus on “instant compositions,” the kind you “just pour water on” to make something happen, plus some Jordan and Edison originals.

Farmer and Jordan traded licks in front of a KPBS-TV (Channel 15) studio audience last Friday at the taping of one of the “Club Date” jazz shows. The session started off with the horn players looking mysteriously miffed. Jordan later explained why.

“Sometimes people suggest how we should play,” he said. “Since we’ve been playing so long, we find it strange people would tell us what to do. They wanted us to open fast and close fast, and I said: ‘Supposing we don’t want to do that? We’ve been charming snakes our whole careers.’ ”

This is week three of Elario’s four-week Summer Jazz Series, which concludes next week with reed man Jimmy Heath and pianist (and former San Diegan) Rob Schneiderman.

While Edison plays Elario’s, his recent record mate Spike Robinson plays sax Friday and Saturday nights at Diego’s Loft in Pacific Beach. After 30 years as an engineer with Honeywell, Robinson revived his career in the ‘80s. Recent albums include one with Edison and another with keyboard player Rob Mullins.

Pianists Harry Pickens and Mike Wofford put on an awesome display at Part Two of the Athenaeum’s four-part “Art of Improvisation” series last Wednesday. Between their head-to-head piano duels, they took time out to explain what they were doing. KPBS-TV (Channel 15) Program Director Brad Warner shook his head in amazement at the conclusion of the program, but there are no plans to tape the duo for the station’s “Club Date” show, according to Steve Satkowski of Elario’s, one of the show’s producers. The Athenaeum lecture/concert series featuring Pickens continued last night with Pickens and flutist Holly Hofmann. It concludes next Wednesday with Pickens and bassist Marshall Hawkins, beginning at 7 p.m.

RIFFS: Ever-popular fluegelhorn player Chuck Mangione, whose new “Live at the Village Gate” album is his first on his new Feels So Good record label, plays Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay this Sunday with shows at 7 and 9 p.m. . . . Guitarist Grant Geissman, a one-time Mangione associate, plays his own gig Sunday afternoon at 1 at Fashion Valley shopping center, sponsored by KIFM (98.1). . . . Vic’s, the La Jolla restaurant that’s on-again, off-again with jazz, is on again. The Barry Farrar Trio is playing Friday happy hours, 4 to 7 p.m. . . . Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., Danny Hale’s All-Star Big Band plays outdoors in Ellen Browning Scripps Park next to La Jolla Cove. . . . The Patti Glenn Trio will be featured in KSDS-FM’s (88.3) “Jazz Live” concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the City College Theatre on C Street between 13th and 15th streets. Hear the music in person or on the radio. . . . Summer weekend jazz at La Casa del Zorro resort in Borrego Springs, hosted by KSWV-FM (102.9) disc jockey Art Good, winds up Aug. 11-13 with Reel to Real and the Mark Lessman Band. Weekend packages are available. . . . This Sunday night’s edition of “Le Jazz Club” on KSDS-FM (88.3) features Claude Bolling’s Big Band playing George Gershwin classics and a tribute to Count Basie. . . . Denver pianist Ellyn Rucker, appearing Tuesday through Saturday nights at The Beach House in Mission Beach, will be interviewed on KSDS-FM (88.3) at 11 a.m. Wednesday. . . . The Dick Braun Orchestra provides big band music for dancing at the Bali H’ai on Shelter Island every Sunday night beginning at 6.