Jazz : Halligan Brings Touch of ‘60s to Overland

Pianist/composer Dick Halligan writes the kind of tunes you don’t hear every day. His music recalls the early ‘60s of modern jazz, when, in answer to the earthiness of the hard bop which was in favor in the late ‘50s, compositions were melodic but often without being blues-based, were engaging intellectually, employed plenty of space and were sometimes, as a result of these qualities, a tad remote.

Halligan, the first pianist with Blood, Sweat and Tears and the arranger of such hit records by that group as “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die” and “God Bless the Child,” played his challenging originals Friday at the Overland Cafe, the Westside room that now spotlights acoustic mainstream sounds where it once embraced jazz/fusion.

There was much to like about the way he and his crew--Rob Lockart, tenor and soprano saxes; Bob Harrison, bass, and Peter Donald, drums--took care of business. And though Harrison and Lockart were subs for regulars Joel DiBartolo and Bob Sheppard on their respective instruments, they fit right in, giving the impression of being a group, rather than a gathering of four individuals.

The medium-paced “Bass Tune” found Harrison and Halligan offering the melody in low, plush, unison tones (Lockart joined later) and the bassist took the first solo, pulling on his strings energetically and getting a robust musical response for his efforts. The leader mirrored the relaxed flavor of his tune when he improvised, gradually weaving his lines up and down the keyboard, not pushing things. Lockart’s soprano statements shimmered, and he opted for repeating three-note figures occasionally that recalled another soprano saxophonist, the late John Coltrane.

After a pretty ballad, the players tackled Bronislav Kaper’s “Invitation” invigoratingly, with Donald moving the tune smoothly from a Latin mode to a driving straight-ahead groove. Halligan’s lush “Waltz for ‘B,’ ” dedicated to Bill Evans (one of the leader’s chief influences), led to the climactic “Moonwalk,” a tune with more than one feeling in which Donald established a chunky rock-ish tone and Halligan went from delicately executed figures to funkier, harder-hit ideas.