Rebirth Band Livens Up New Orleans-Style Jazz

Some of the brightest moments for jazz fans during the Michelob Street Scene this Friday and Saturday nights are bound to come during sets by the eight-piece Rebirth Brass Band.

In the tradition of the great New Orleans funeral and marching bands, the group plays the kind of rollicking music that makes people lose control during Mardi Gras. Trumpets blare and voices wail over the pulse of tuba, trombone and marching drums. Tuba player Philip Frazier sees the group as somewhere between the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which tends toward experimental tributaries of New Orleans jazz, and the venerable Olympia Brass Band, a New Orleans fixture since long before the Rebirth boys were born.

At 24, Frazier is one of the group’s senior members. Along with his brother Keith (percussion, vocals), Kermit Ruffins (trumpet, percussion, vocals) and Keith (Wolf) Anderson (trombone, vocals), Frazier has been in the band since it began in 1983.

The group’s first album, “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up,” is enjoying modest sales (about 8,000 copies to date, Frazier said) and widespread critical acclaim. A new album is due in the fall.

Material ranges from a reworking of Steven and Michael Jackson’s “Shake Your Body Down to the Ground” to originals such as the anti-drug “Leave That Pipe Alone” and “Do Whatcha Want (Part 2),” being played on New Orleans disco radio stations.

This well-oiled music machine is made from young parts. Members range in age from 19 to 26. Longtime trumpeter Derrick Shezbie left earlier this year at the ripe old age of 15 to pursue progressive jazz.

The Rebirth band, making its first West Coast tour, takes the East Cajun Stage at 5 and 6:45 Friday night. Other jazz and jazz-related acts scheduled to appear at the Street Scene include Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham and their Sweet Baby Blues Band (Friday), “Swamp Boogie Queen” Katie Webster (Saturday), keyboardist Keiko Matsui (Friday), percussionist Poncho Sanchez (Friday), flutist Tim Weisberg (Friday) and pianist Floyd Dixon (Saturday).

Gates open at 5 for the Friday and Saturday night outdoor street festivals downtown. Tickets are $28 for both nights, or $15 for one night. TicketMaster has them.

A logical first reaction to this weekend’s Big Band tribute being presented as part of the San Diego Symphony’s SummerPops season would be skepticism. How could a group of mostly classical musicians bring the necessary spark to legitimate jazz?

As it turns out, the classical pros will be driven by some seasoned jazz ringers, led by New York City vibraphonist Ted Piltzecker, who will play on several songs and serve as conductor. Also joining the band will be such local jazz players as guitarist Art Johnson, saxophonist John Rekevics and drummer Jim Plank.

“The symphony’s intention is to put on a program that’s really representative of the work of (Count) Basie, (Duke) Ellington and (Lionel) Hampton,” Piltzecker said. The concerts will include 10 songs by the three masters, plus the Cole Porter tune “From This Moment On.”

Piltzecker has performed with jazzmen such as Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, George Shearing, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws and Eddie Harris. His last album was the 1986 “Destinations,” which made No. 8 on Radio & Records magazine’s jazz chart. Piltzecker’s role models on vibes include Hampton, Red Norvo and Terry Gibbs, he said.

The big band tribute will be presented Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 7:30 in the Pops’ outdoor summer home at Hospitality Point, between Mission Beach and Ocean Beach.

Each year, dozens of free live jazz concerts are paid for by something called the Music Performance Trust Fund. Administered by the federal government’s Department of Labor, the fund channels money (donated by recording companies) into local musicians’ unions. San Diego Musicians Local 325 will spend close to $50,000 this year, paying 40% of the performers’ base union scale salaries, plus concert presenters’ payroll taxes, for a variety of free concerts. So far in 1990, the union has helped pay for the summer outdoor jazz series in Carlsbad, jazz at Horton Plaza, plus performances in local hospitals and schools, among others. The union has 1,250 members, including about 800 jazz players.

RIFFS: KPBS-TV’s “Club Date” jazz program moves into prime time this fall, where it will follow editions of the 1957 “Nat King Cole Show” on Saturday nights. The package begins this Saturday with Cole’s show at 8 featuring Mel Torme and June Christy preceding “Club Date” at 8:30, with guitarist Barney Kessel. Both shows repeat Monday at 1 and 1:30 p.m. . . .

Tuesday’s 8 p.m. “Jazz Live” concert in the theater at San Diego City College is being billed as pianist Randy Porter’s last local concert before he moves to Oregon later this month. Porter will play with saxophonist Paul Sundfor, bassist Hank Dobbs, drummer Duncan Moore, and vocalists Coral Thuet and Amber Whitlock. The music will be simulcast on KSDS-FM (88.3). Porter also appears Friday and Saturday nights at the Horton Grand Hotel downtown. . . .

Electric jazz band Windows plays KIFM’s “Rising Star” concert at the Catamaran Resort Hotel in Pacific Beach next Wednesday night at 8. . . .

The Jack Aldridge Big Band, whose members have worked with legends Harry James, Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, continues its weekend gigs at the San Diego Women’s Club (2557 3rd Ave.) Sunday afternoon from 2 to 5.