Trumpeter Likes Making His Music on Grand Scale

Trumpeter Snooky Young takes a break from his duties with the “Tonight Show” to play San Diego in his favorite format: a full-bore big band, in this case, the San Diego State University Jazz Ensemble.

“That’s where my heart is,” Young said. “I do small bands, but I like big bands. I’m a lead player, and I enjoy playing lead in big bands. It’s more fun than playing in a small combo.”

He said the combined energy of several horns surrounding him pushes him to new levels.

Young has always favored big bands, dating back to his lead trumpet days with Jimmy Lunceford, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Les Hite and Bennie Carter. For 28 years, he’s been the lead trumpeter for Johnny Carson’s television band. Besides recording with such jazz men as Lunceford, Basie, Doc Severinsen, and Louis Bellson, Young has two albums of his own and hopes to record a third this year.

It will probably be a spontaneous session of standards. “We’ll wing it,” Young said.

The trumpeter has also worked with San Diegans Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham. Just last week, Young played the Vine St. Bar & Grill in L.A. with the Cheathams and their Sweet Baby Blues Band.

“I first met them in New York many years ago,” Young recalled. “Jimmy used to do a lot of commercial contracting, for jingles and things. He’d hire the players. I worked on a few, but I can’t remember which ones.”

You’ve also heard Young’s trumpet on the sound tracks for such movies as “New York, New York,” “The Color Purple” and “Blazing Saddles,” in which a big band scene breaks up Mel Brooks’ Western parody.

For this Sunday’s concert in the Don Powell Theater at San Diego State, Young sent SDSU Jazz Ensemble Director Bill Yeager a half dozen big band charts. Among them are Sammy Nestico’s arrangement of “You Gotta Try,” which features dueling tenor saxes, and “Little Darlin’, “ a slow, swing number arranged by frequent Basie collaborator Neal Hefti.

The concert is the third and final of the San Diego Jazz Society’s “Salute to the Masters” series.

Jazz patron Bob Geib finds the live jazz scene here a bit muted, so he has organized three concerts he is calling “Innovations in Modern Music.”

The series opens Saturday night with guitarist Peter Sprague and flutist Steve Kujala, whose new album together, “Heads Hands Hearts,” has just been released. April 14, it is the Rinaldi String Quartet, with guests Lori Bell on flute and Marian Rian Hays on harp. April 29, former John Coltrane bassist Dr. Art Davis wraps it up.

Sprague and Kujala’s innovations aren’t as blatantly cutting edge as, say, New York loft jazz, but their album explores new territory in subtler ways. Continuing the light, tropical mood they set on “Na Pali Coast,” their last recording together, the two team up this time with a longtime associate, bassist John Leftwich. The immediately noticeable difference is the absence of a drummer. Kujala and Sprague’s original compositions take a step toward classical music with delicate melodies and harmonies, and the all-acoustic format lets the compositions shine.

Together, Sprague and Kujala have a special chemistry. In this setting, Sprague, with the help of light percussion, sometimes functions as a rhythm section of one, softly pushing Kujala’s signature flute sound: a quavering, sliding, trilling approach that calls to mind jungle birds and rain forests. Often, Leftwich joins Kujala to add bottom-end counterpoint to a melody line, instead of holding down the traditional role as timekeeper.

Sprague has worked in a variety of settings, including straight-ahead jazz with many of the greats. But in this context, he seems particularly at home. Technically, the new album is Kujala’s, recorded under his deal with Sonic Edge Records. But Sprague wrote six songs to Kujala’s five. Sprague said the label likes the music, and is considering doing a follow-up session under Sprague’s name. Saturday’s show will highlight music from the album.

The shows are the first jazz in several weeks at Diego’s Loft, which was being used for storage while the downstairs disco was remodeled.

RIFFS: Friday and Saturday night at 8, the RUSE Free Music Collective, including members of Turiya’s Immediate Freedom Band, plays the second weekend of the spring RUSE Fest at RUSE Performance Gallery, 447 5th Ave., in downtown San Diego. . . .

Multi-instrumentalist Kitaro, whose New Age music is a favorite of light jazz and adult contemporary radio stations, hits the California Theatre in downtown San Diego Tuesday night.. . .

Mark Lessman and Hank Easton have cracked KIFM’s play list with self-produced albums. Other San Diegans in regular rotation include Fattburger, Hollis Gentry, Checkfield and Spencer Nilsen. . . .

Through April at the Beach House restaurant in Mission Beach: Thursdays, seven-string guitarist Art Johnson; Fridays, solo piano with Mike Wofford; Saturdays, solo piano with Bob Morss. Johnson subs for Wofford April 27. . . .

Sunday night at 7 on KSDS-FM’s (88.3) “Le Jazz Club,” it is alto sax man Peter King, purportedly one of Red Rodney’s favorites. At 9 that night, in honor of April Fool’s Day, the “Jazz Roots” program will feature “Screwballs in Jazz and Swing,” humorous tunes from the likes of Bud Freeman, Joe Venuti, Charlie Barnett, Fats Waller and others. Monday afternoon at 3, host Barry Farrar interviews drummer Winard Harper of the Harper Brothers on “Percussive Profiles.” . . .

Guitarist Jim Storey’s band, Open Channel, fronts next week’s Tuesday night jam at the Hilton on Mission Bay. . . .

Hollis Gentry plays the Catamaran Hotel’s “Jazz Trax Nite,” hosted by Art Good. . . .

Mondays and Tuesdays at Elario’s, it is solo piano player Mel Goot, who also works with local groups, including Afro Rumba, Algo Caliente and Joy of Sax. . . .

Friday and Saturday nights, Kelly’s Pub in Old Town continues to host mainstream jazz workshops and jam sessions.