Padres Pitcher Finds Guitar Pick a Pleasing Alternative

San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show is into his off-season incarnation as a jazz guitarist. This Sunday night at the Salmon House in Quivira Basin, between Mission Beach and Ocean Beach, Show and top local saxophonist Gary Lefebvre will front a rhythm section of Barry Farrar on drums, Bob Hamilton on piano and Tom Azarello on bass.

Show has played with Lefebvre on several occasions. The musicians first heard each other at one of jazzman Bob Oakes’ Sunday jam sessions in Ocean Beach and felt a musical rapport. They recorded an album of Christmas songs and planned to release it last year, but Show decided to wait until he could arrange more thorough distribution than he had for his last album, “America . . . 4/4 To Go.”

While not on a level with the Wes Montgomerys and Joe Passes of the world, Show is a respected guitarist.

“He can play,” Lefebvre said. “He can burn on a lot of the old standards and some of those things.”

Lefebvre, who worked with the late trumpeter Chet Baker in the ‘60s, has put his career into overdrive after moving back to San Diego from Ventura 2 1/2 years ago. He backed Mose Allison during the singer’s recent dates at Elario’s.

“It was a blues gig,” Lefebvre said. “He’s got some things with different kinds of changes and he makes you think differently, but I started missing the good jazz standards.”

Lefebvre will also be working with legendary bop trumpeter Red Rodney next month at Elario’s. And he plans to get his own big band back into rehearsals and regular live dates.

At the Salmon House, Show and Lefebvre will play from 6-10 p.m.

It’s hip to merge African, Cuban or South American rhythms with jazz or pop these days, but percussionist Gene Perry is no fashion follower. Perry moved to San Diego from Puerto Rico in 1968, and has led his own rhythm-based ensembles here since the ‘70s.

Perry, who makes a living as a groundskeeper at San Diego State University, formed Afro Rumba in 1983. This Saturday at 8 p.m., the nine-piece group makes a rare appearance at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.

Early on, the band played mostly variations on Afro-Cuban rhythms, but when Perry noticed his diverse audiences included a large number of Latinos, he began adding ample doses of salsa.

Live shows bounce to a variety of beats; the band’s repertoire includes several Latin standards by big-name players like Eddie Palmieri and Mongo Santamaria, along with a number of original tunes, many penned by the band’s former saxophonist Esteban Favila. Perry fuels the fire with a mixed attack on congas, bongos, timbales, tamboura and an assortment of other percussion instruments. He uses his voice as an additional rhythm instrument.

Perry could increase his following by broadening the music, but he refuses to compromise.

“Most clubs want Top 40. We don’t do that,” he said. “Some of the Latinos like more of the straight-ahead salsa rhythms, for dancing. It’s kind of hard, since I’m mixing them up with Latin jazz.”

Perry described salsa, generally speaking, as relentless rhythmic dance music, while the Latin, or Afro-Cuban, numbers are more expressive, with melodies more prominently featured and with more room for improvisation.

Perry has been busy. A few months ago, he sat in with percussionist Tito Puente in Tijuana. Recently, he studied with master percussionist Angel (Cachete) Maldonado in Puerto Rico, working on traditional rhythms, refining his technique on congas.

Perry will open the Saturday show with two hours of African-influenced music from Puerto Rico and Cuba. Joined by three dancers, he’ll demonstrate bomba, rumba and plena rhythms. Then from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., Afro Rumba will perform Latin jazz and salsa. Dancing shoes are recommended.

Former Big Band singer Ann Williams has been booking the jazz at the tiny Beach House restaurant in Mission Beach since last summer. Williams, whose best-known music was made in the late ‘40s with Tex Beneke’s Big Band, is also an influential member of the board of the San Diego Jazz Society. Since joining a few months ago, she has attracted such local jazz luminaries as James Moody, Charles McPherson and Jim Merod to the board.

Now Williams, who occasionally sings a song or two at Elario’s when her jazz friends are on stage, is thinking of singing more often. She may do a night or two at the restaurant, perhaps with a guitarist or pianist.

In the meantime, she’s bringing top talent to the Beach House. Jan. 19 and 26, Mike Wofford plays solo piano; Thursdays, its Dan Papaila on guitar; Saturday nights, Brazilian pianist Elfredo Cardim does Gilberto, Jobim and other south American classics.

RIFFS: The San Diego Jazz Society has announced its first show of the new year: saxophonist Marshal Royal and trumpeter Joseph Wilder at the Lyceum Stage theater in Horton Plaza on Jan. 27. . . . Next Wednesday, Fattburger plays the Catamaran Resort Hotel’s “Jazz Trax Nite,” hosted by Art Good. . . . An interview with Max Roach will be featured on the KSDS-FM (88.3) “Percussive Profiles” program at 3 p.m. Monday. . . . At the Horton Grand Hotel’s Palace Bar: Friday, pianist Mel Goot, happy hour, followed by the Bill Hunter Duo; Saturday: Jack Hennessey, happy hour, followed by Hunter.