This Pair’s Love of Melody Knows No Generation Gap

When it comes to age, pianist Dave McKenna, 59, and saxophonist Scott Hamilton, 35, are worlds apart. Musically, though, the two see eye to eye: Both prefer no-frills, straight-ahead jazz, with the emphasis on beautiful melodies.

The pair--who opened a two-week stint at Elario’s in La Jolla on Wednesday night with San Diego drummer Jay Hearn--both record for the Concord Jazz label. They were first brought together by the company’s president, Carl Jefferson.

“We have a lot of common repertory,” said Hamilton, who has recorded two albums with McKenna, “No Bass Hit” and “Major League.”

“We probably have similar backgrounds in terms of people we’ve been influenced by--jazz artists from the ‘20s to the ‘60s.”

Hamilton named saxophonists Gene Ammons, Eddie (Lockjaw) Davis, Zoot Sims, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster among his favorites, but said Illinois Jacquet and Stan Getz have had the greatest impact on his playing.

McKenna mentioned Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Christian, Johnny Hodges, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Kelly, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans and ‘50s-era Miles Davis as influences, along with singers Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra, whom he called “the greatest pop singer.”

But McKenna, who, according to Hamilton, “knows just about everything that’s ever been written,” also reveres great songwriters.

“I like melodies. Harry Warren was wonderful--even his ricky-tick tunes like ‘You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me.’ He also wrote ‘I Only Have Eyes for You,’ ‘The More I See You,’ ‘I Wish I Knew,’ ‘You’ll Never Know,’ ‘My Heart Tells Me’ and ‘This Heart of Mine.’ ” McKenna even did an entire album of Warren’s music.

McKenna and Hamilton make a logical pair. McKenna, whom Whitney Balliett of New Yorker magazine once called “the hardest swinging pianist of all time,” does amazing things with his left hand.

“I’m not different than anyone else,” McKenna said.

“Dave tends to be very modest,” Hamilton countered. “There are very few pianists capable of playing without a bass player and not being highly stylized. With Dave, it’s not like stride piano all night. His left-hand work is very special and quite unique in the history of jazz. I’ve never heard another pianist who sounds anything like him.”

Over McKenna’s solid left-hand bass patterns and chords and lyrical right hand, Hamilton lays in full, breathy notes that often end with a subtle vibrato. Hamilton’s playing, especially, calls to mind an era when emotion was more important than exotic harmonic theories or pure speed.

Besides their albums together, McKenna and Hamilton have done a number of solo projects. McKenna’s latest is “No More Ouzo for Puzo,” featuring guitarist Gray Sargent. Hamilton’s newest is a collection of ballads.

Trumpeter Miles Davis was so pleased with his treatment at UC San Diego, where he played Mandeville Auditorium on Saturday night, that his tour manager said Davis would like to play on campus again.

Show organizers saw to it that the sometimes-surly Davis had plenty of fresh fruit, nuts, Evian water and tea with lemon backstage, as he had requested. When the trumpeter found his dressing room chair uncomfortable, Bonnie Ward, who organized the event with the school’s Contemporary Black Arts program, scoured the campus to find him a plush recliner.

Fresh off double Grammys, Davis seemed in a buoyant mood during an unusually long (two hours) set, taking off his dark glasses, holding up large placards with names printed on them to identify band soloists. Davis also jokingly displayed a placard that read “ME.” Through the sale of several special patron seats priced at $50 to $100, the Contemporary Black Arts program raised $2,780. Every seat in the house was taken.

At Palomar College in San Marcos, jazz instructor Dick Harvey sprinkles several seasoned jazz musicians in among his young proteges to help them learn the ropes.

When his Palomar Jazz Ensemble takes the stage tonight at 7 in the Palomar College Theater, veteran big band players Charlie Di Pietro (bass with Tommy Dorsey), Lee O’Connor (trombone with Harry James), Toby Taubson (trumpet, several bands) and Jim Christie (alto sax, several bands) will be mixed in with the youngsters.

The concert will be a tribute to the big band music of the ‘40s, including that of Harry James, Dorsey, Charlie Barnett, Count Basie and Glen Miller and Stan Kenton. Selections will include Miller’s “In the Mood,” Kenton’s “Eager Beaver” and Barnett’s “Cherokee.”

Next Wednesday night, the UC San Diego Jazz Ensemble will perform a wide range of music in both small group and ensemble formats, under the direction of Professor Jimmy Cheatham. Works by Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie and Sammy Nestico will be included.

Percussionist Robert Weiss and pianist Eric Dries will receive music scholarships from the Jazz Society of Lower Southern California. Dries will be featured on pieces by Ellington and Monk.

RIFFS: Dotsero, the pop jazz band whose new first album has enjoyed play locally on KIFM and nationally on Art Good’s syndicated “Jazz Trax” program, works the Catamaran in Mission Beach next Wednesday night. The group’s name means “something new” in Ute. . . . San Diego jazz pianist Randy Porter teams up with guitarist/folk singer Peggy Watson at 8 p.m. this Saturday at Words & Music Bookstore, 3806 4th Ave. The music will be mostly Watson’s, but Porter will play a few jazz tunes by himself. Tickets are $9. . . . Friday and Saturday nights at Croce’s in downtown San Diego, it’s Latin jazz with Algo Caliente, featuring top local fluegelhorn player Bruce Cameron. Next door, in the Top Hat Bar & Grill, it’s R&B; singer Janice Edwards with Zzaj, Friday and Saturday nights.