JAZZ REVIEW : Red Rodney Takes Jazz on Trip Back Into the ‘40s and ‘50s at Elario’s

Be-bop trumpeter Red Rodney’s current stay at Elario’s gives you three bands in one.

At Wednesday’s opening night, a trio kicked off the second set, spotlighting Los Angeles pianist Frank Strazzeri, whose quirky, ambling improvisations are reminiscent of Thelonious Monk’s. Strazzeri chose Monk’s “Aronel” as his first tune.

The trio became a quartet when San Diego saxman Gary LeFebvre took the stage, and his bright tenor soared over the rhythm section. LeFebvre, who was virtually invisible for a few years, has been working hard lately, and it’s paying off with some fine playing.

Finally, there was the quintet completed by Rodney, whose career has enjoyed a renaissance because of the portrayal of him as Charlie Parker’s sidekick in the movie “Bird,” about Parker’s life.

Clearly, the years have aged Rodney’s playing gracefully. Some of his best moments came when he switched to fluegelhorn. His slurry, smooth ramblings, punctuated by stinging highs, made a perfect counterpoint to LeFebvre’s sax. Closing your eyes, you might have thought you had stepped back to some of the great trumpet-sax cutting contests of the ‘40s or ‘50s.

Rodney chose a broad range of material for the band’s first night together.

The swinging “No Turn on Red,” the title song from his latest album, included solos from Rodney, LeFebvre and Strazzeri, whose unusual phrasings combined emotion with intellect.

LeFebvre and Rodney were surprisingly tight, tossing musical ideas back and forth, or joining in tandem to harmonize on melody lines.

“How Do You Know,” written by Rodney’s collaborator Garry Dial, again featured Rodney’s buttery-smooth fluegelhorn, his improvised lines climbing and dipping just enough to keep things inter esting.

In the bop tradition, Rodney and LeFebvre took a popular standard, “The Girl from Ipanema,” and turned it into an electrified speed burner, with the melody coming so fast you didn’t recognize the song at first. By now, the band was smoking, and Rodney laughed out loud with pleasure, clapping LeFebvre on the back.

Rodney’s version of “Greensleeves” provided a base for some John Coltrane-like modal soloing on the part of both LeFebvre and Rodney, before segueing seamlessly into Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” The horn men stated the familiar theme in unison before LeFebvre took the first solo.

A a follow-up, Rodney put down his horn and beamed like a Christmas tree as he sang a be-bop takeoff on a nursery rhyme, bettering the version by the actor who played him in “Bird.” A medium tempo blues closed the set, with Rodney on trumpet.

The band seemed to please its distinguished leader. Rodney complemented the precision of Strazzeri, LeFebvre, and locals Bob Magnusson and Jim Plank on bass and drums.

With two nights under its belt, the group will undoubtedly provide some even tighter, brighter musical moments during this short engagement, which ends Sunday.