Fluegelhorn Champ Blows Them Away

Elario’s, the jazz club that tops off the Summer House Inn, has achieved a reputation for bringing in the best in unqualified jazz. In snagging Art Farmer for a brief stay (through April 8), boniface Steve Satkowski has again displayed his resourcefulness.

A resident of Vienna for many years, Farmer, once a name-brand trumpeter, switched to fluegelhorn a couple of decades ago. This instrument, slightly mellower in sound, seemed ideally suited to his personality, particularly when the vehicle is a ballad such as “Soul Eyes,” written by Mal Waldron (a fellow expatriate who now lives in Germany), or a neglected but attractive Duke Ellington composition, “What Am I Here For.”

Recently Farmer took to doubling on trumpet, finding that he could bring to it a higher level of intensity than the fluegelhorn can offer. He employed it effectively on “Embraceable You” and in a splendid muted blues workout on Milt Jackson’s “Bags Groove,” but the most definitive moment of the set was still provided on the fluegel.

Farmer has a quartet for this gig, with three highly qualified San Diego musicians for company. Two of them have been frequent Farmer associates in the past: Bob Magnusson, that most supple of bassists, and the steady, unobtrusive drummer Jim Plank.

At the piano is a relatively little-known artist, Randy Porter. Now 26, he is at ease playing standards written before he was born, such as Fats Navarro’s “Nostalgia” (based on the chord pattern of “Out of Nowhere”), and John Coltrane’s “Moment to Moment.” This was his first outing with Farmer, who was clearly pleased with Porter’s empathy and creativity.

Wednesday night’s opening was unusual because the first Farmer set was preceded by two films. One of these was a sampler of 15 brief segments of “Club Date,” the KPBS-TV series produced and directed by Paul Marshall, with Steve Satkowski as associate producer. Featuring Bob Shank, Barney Kessel, James Moody, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Jimmy Witherspoon and others, the sampler was a fascinating cornucopia.

It was followed by a full half hour Art Farmer show taped during his visit here last year with a quintet, featuring saxophonist Clifford Jordan.

This series is now seen on 110 stations throughout the United States. San Diegans can see “Club Date” Saturdays at 11 p.m., starting this Saturday with the Farmer show. Each show repeats Monday at 11:30 p.m., except for the Farmer show, which will air at 11 p.m.