A Club That Works: Chadney’s in Burbank

In the latest tally of openings and closings of Los Angeles jazz spots, the score is 3 to 1 for the good guys.

Actually, there are only two new venues to report--the Silver Screen Lounge and Sasch--but why not count Chadney’s, since, as of a week or two ago, the Burbank room has increased its jazz schedule to seven nights a week. The lone closure was Churchill’s in Glendale, which decided to drop the jazz policy in favor of Top 40 groups after giving the music a scant two-week tryout. Heard that song before?

With proper presentation, jazz can work. Chadney’s is a perfect example. “We went to jazz three nights a week almost a year ago, and the popular response has allowed us to extend the schedule as planned,” said Chadney’s owner Steve Hoeller, in a press release.

The reopening of the Silver Screen Lounge is reason for celebration. During the early ‘80s the nightspot, located in a ground floor corner of the Hyatt on Sunset Hotel (8401 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (213) 656-1234), presented such greats as pianists Tommy Flanagan and Hank Jones and the late saxmen Eddie (Lockjaw) Davis and Warne Marsh. The current policy, co-sponsored by the Hyatt and the Los Angeles Jazz Society, will feature jazz artists Thursday-Saturday, 9:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. There will be no cover charge.

Guitarist John Collins’ quartet kicks off the series on Thursday, followed next by Don and Alicia Cunningham with the Al Aarons Quartet, then by Bob Cooper’s quartet and the Clayton Brothers, and many more.

And there’s Sasch, the rock haunt in Studio City (11345 Ventura Blvd., (818) 769-5555) that now offers a Sunday Jazz and Fusion series at 7:30 p.m. This Sunday, it’s flutist Tim Weisberg and guitarist Jeff Richman, with pianist Rob Mullins and the group Accent scheduled for May 20. Cover charges vary.

JAZZ GOES TO SCHOOL: The sound of jazz will spread to four junior and high school campuses under a program co-sponsored by the International Assn. of Jazz Appreciation (IOAJA) and the Playboy Jazz Festival.

On Wednesday, saxman Herman Riley’s foursome plays for students of Washington High School in Los Angeles at 1:20 p.m. On Friday, the IOAJA Goes to School Band, with bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ndugu Chancler, performs at Sun Valley Junior High School in Sun Valley (10:40 a.m.), and trumpeter Bobby Rodriguez’ Latin/jazz band entertains the troops at Stevenson Junior High in Los Angeles (1 p.m.). The brief series wraps up on Tuesday,with a performance by trombonists Buster Cooper and Thurman Green at Canoga Park High in Canoga Park at 10:30 a.m. Following each concert, the musicians will hold clinics for interested students.

BASSIST ON THE MOVE: The above-mentioned Larry Gales, currently part of the back-up band (see below) working with singer Jon Hendricks at St. Mark’s in Venice through Saturday, is heading back to New York for some well-deserved exposure. “I’m going home,” said the former Thelonious Monk sideman, referring to his native Manhattan, during intermission at the Venice club. “I’m going to do a quartet date at Bradley’s, with tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, pianist Walter Davis Jr. and drummer Ben Riley, and then later I’ll do a sextet stint at Birdland.” Gales plans to record the sextet.

Gales, who worked and recorded with Monk--alongside drummer Riley and the late saxophonist Charlie Rouse--during the mid-to-late ‘60s, was featured prominently in the recent film, “Straight No Chaser: The Music of Thelonious Monk.” “That really helped me,” he said. “These New York dates are the result of that film.”

MORE HENDRICKS QUARTET TIDBITS: Pianist Benny Green, whose Blue Note debut, “Lineage,” is due out in early June, is working all over. The New York-based artist, whom Angelenos have heard here with Betty Carter and Art Blakey, goes to San Francisco after the Hendricks gig to do a solo recital. He’ll perform a similar program at the JVC Newport in New York festival in June. The up-and-coming giant will also appear with altoist Bobby Watson’s band in the Midwest this month, and at Bradley’s with a trio led by tenor ace Ralph Moore. This summer, he heads to Europe as part of a quintet headed by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.

Splendid saxophonist Noel Jewkes, an off-and-on Hendricks associate for over 20 years who all but never plays the Southland, said he’s working a lot in his San Francisco base, “though it’s not always jazz,” he noted. “That’s not so great, but it’s good to be working. I am looking to perform more with a seven-piece band for which I have about 70 charts, including many originals.”

Drummer Eddie Moore, who has played L.A. with the likes of vibist Bobby Hutcherson, looked much trimmer than usual on Wednesday. “I’ve lost 78 pounds,” he beamed on his way to the bandstand.