Jazz Takes the Ring at El Matador : Music: Bassist Luther Hughes wants to make the place he plays the Orange County center for jazz fusion.

Bassist Luther Hughes was skeptical when he first heard from the booking agent. Seemed a Mexican restaurant in Huntington Beach wanted a jazz group to play weekends.

“I thought, geez,” Hughes recalled last week from his home in Westminster. “I figured it was some old guy who’d say, ‘I want Glenn Miller music.’ ” But Hughes--who’s probably best known for hosting mainstream-minded KLON-FM’s only contemporary program, “Jazz Today”--thought he’d at least follow through.

“It was close to home and I figured I’d go down and talk to the guy with the attitude that I didn’t care if I did it or not. If I do, I’m going to do it on my own terms, and if the guy gives me any flack at all, I’ll tell him to get somebody else.”

As it turned out, George Gallardo, who along with his father, Marcial, owns and operates El Matador restaurant in Huntington Beach, has musical tastes similar to Hughes. “I’m a big David Sanborn fan,” the younger Gallardo said from the restaurant recently, “and I like Spyro Gyra quite a bit. But I also like Ella Fitzgerald, and I greatly admired Sarah Vaughn.”

So Gallardo and Hughes combined forces and have come up with Orange County’s newest venue to get serious about presenting jazz. Since the end of May, Hughes has appeared at the restaurant in electric fests that feature his pals from the recording world and others who have appeared on his radio program. David Benoit, for whom Hughes played bass on the pianist’s 1989 recording “Waiting for Spring,” has been in (and was to have returned tonight but had to cancel at the last minute), as has Chick Corea’s saxophonist, Orange County-based Eric Marienthal, keyboardists Rob Mullins and Vernell Brown Jr, and electric guitarist Grant Geissman.

From the bandstand, which is surrounded on three sides by a few comfortable booths and tables, Hughes and his guests run through standards as well as original music. “Almost everyone who comes in is a recording artist,” says Hughes, “so I try to do stuff from their albums.”

Earlier this month, keyboardist Tom Ranier could be seen passing music around for a ballad he’d written called “An Hour From Your Heart.” Most of the packed house was sitting close enough to see the notes squiggled on the paper. The loose jam-session atmosphere was heightened by the musicians teasing the composer about the piece’s title. But their exchange of nods and glances during Ranier’s solo revealed how they really felt about the work. Later, they worked out on a spitfire-tempo version of John Coltrane’s standard, “Giant Steps.”

Special bookings have included the Tom Kubis Big Band, Poncho Sanchez’s Latin Jazz Band and Bernie Pearl’s Blues Band with Harmonica Fats. But it’s Hughes’ seldom-the-same trio, usually with a visiting saxophonist, that holds down the Thursday-through-Saturday slot, for which there is no cover charge.

So far, Gallardo is happy. “It’s been a pleasant surprise,” he said. “Luther’s been bringing in some great talent. It’s really helped the business.”

And Hughes is happy too. “Most of the places in Orange County have acoustic, more mainstream jazz, so that people can talk above the music. I’m trying to make this the Orange County equivalent of Le Cafe or Bon Appetit,” he explained, citing two Los Angeles-based fusion spots.

Hughes, 43, first became interested in the bass after attending a jazz performance at his high school in Cincinnati. He developed his skills at the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music, in Army bands and on a tour of Europe with a band led by the CTI record label’s staff arranger, David Matthews.

A brash move in a Cincinnati jazz club eventually brought Hughes to Los Angeles for a job with Gene Harris, the pianist and leader of the Philip Morris Super Band, in 1971. “Gene’s was the first jazz group I ever heard in a club. After the show I went up to Gene and said, ‘Gee, I really want to play with you.’ Even though he never heard me play, he later called me from California and asked me to come out. I asked him about it later, and he said, ‘I just had a hunch about you.’ ”

Hughes also has worked with Horace Silver and the Crusaders, whose sound, he says, has influenced him deeply. His first album, “Luther Hughes and Cahoots,” was released by Contemporary in 1987. A new Cahoots album is due from the ITI label in October.

Meanwhile, the future looks good at El Matador, where people such as saxophonist Justo Almario will be playing this month. Others who’ve expressed interest include Yellowjacket saxophonist Russell Ferrante and Hughes’ old pal Gene Harris. The chance to see talent like that in such intimate circumstances is rare indeed.