JAZZ : ‘The Music Is the Thing’ for Jazz Masters Golson, Barron

The dawn of a new decade? Saxophonist Benny Golson doesn’t see the ‘90s as heralding a new era in jazz.

“Chronology means nothing,” said Golson, who opened a two-week run at Elario’s Wednesday night with pianist Kenny Barron. “We work according to what we feel. The music is the thing; time is coincidental.”

Apparently, Golson simply plans to continue his prodigious arranging and playing. His signature sound is big and smooth, owing something to Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas and Lucky Thompson.

Both established masters, Golson and Barron have never played together live before, though Barron played on one of Golson’s albums five years ago. Steve Satkowski, the talent coordinator at Elario’s, suggested the pairing, and the musicians liked the idea.

Asked to describe Barron’s playing, Golson said it “coruscates”--gives off sparkles of light. He expects Barron to add a delicate, shimmering quality to the music.

Barron has admired Golson’s sound for years.

“He’s got some of the old respect for the past, and some new stuff happening,” he said. “His playing has actually changed the last few years. It’s smooth, but it has more edge to it.”

In the continual search for fresh music, one of Golson’s new projects is an arrangement of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, recorded with the help of top New York classical players. The album isn’t yet available in the U.S., though Golson is hoping for a distribution deal.

Perhaps best known for his work with Jazztet, including co-leader Art Farmer, from 1959 to 1963, Golson also spent a year with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He recently completed a six-week European tour with an all-star band of Blakey alumni.

Barron, who has worked with Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie, just finished sessions with drummer Louis Hayes, trumpeter Eddie Henderson and bassist Ray Drummond. His most recent album as a leader is last year’s “Live at Fat Tuesday’s.” A new live album with a group including pianist John Hicks should be out early this year.

Although Golson doesn’t think his music will change with the dawn of a decade, he acknowledges that technology is having an impact on jazz.

He recently finished a high-tech project for CTI Records head Creed Taylor. It’s a high-definition video featuring Golson’s music, played by such legendary guests as Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Bob Berg, Marvin (Smitty) Smith, Jon Scofield, Bernard Purdy, Charlie Haden, Jimmy McGriff, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim.

The music is interspersed with black-and-white film clips of the musicians talking music and preparing for the session.

Since high-definition television equipment (HDTV) is not yet available in the U.S., the project is somewhat futuristic. It will be available on Laserdisc (video), digital audio tape and compact disc.

“When the high-definition hardware is available, people will want product,” Golson explained. There are no distribution deals set, so the video and audio versions of the session won’t be available for at least several months.

At Elario’s, Golson and Barron are being backed by San Diegans Jim Plank on drums and Bob Magnusson on bass.

Last year’s four-part lecture series on improvisation at The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla, led by San Diego pianist Harry Pickens, was a smashing success. Pickens, who has written a book telling musicians how to achieve relaxed peak performances in their improvisations, is a master at putting into words what it is that jazz players do.

Pickens will be playing and talking about improvisation again at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the San Diego City College Theater. Not only is Pickens a competent educator, he’s a first-class player whose work shows a knowledge of the great jazz pianists and of the broader history of music, including such classical improvisers as Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. As Pickens points out to his audiences, improvisation has been around a lot longer than jazz.

Pickens comes from a musical family and is largely self-taught. His mother played the organ in church while he was growing up in Brunswick, Ga., and his grandfather was a trumpeter with a large traveling circus.

He has worked with Chico Freeman, Milt Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie and Johnny Griffin before recording three albums with the group Out of the Blue; his articulate piano work was a driving force.

Tuesday’s concert will be broadcast live on KSDS-FM (88.3) as part of the station’s “Jazz Live” series.

The New Year’s Eve light jazz bash hosted at the Bahia and Catamaran hotels by KiFM “couldn’t have been more successful,” according to Catamaran General Manager George Harrington. Nearly 2,000 tickets were sold. Including complimentary passes, about 2,400 people attended the evening of music featuring two shows each by Richard Elliot, Keiko Matsui and David Benoit. At midnight, Matsui turned things over to light jazz guru and national “Jazz Trax” radio show host Art Good, who led a countdown. But it was Elliot, the former Tower of Power saxophonist, whose funky playing seemed to suit the occasion. At the end of his midnight set, people were dancing in the aisles.

RIFFS: Inner Circle, the new band featuring Randy Porter and Steve Feierabend, will be at Croce’s in downtown San Diego Tuesday nights during January. . . . Pianist Mel Goot plays Friday happy hour (5:30 to 7:30) at the Horton Grand Hotel in downtown San Diego; pianist Bill Hunter takes the night shift Friday and Saturday. . . . Jeff Kashiwa, the saxophonist for the Rippingtons, will be the guest on KiFM’s “Mainly Mainstream” show this Sunday night beginning at 10.