JAZZ REVIEW : Rotella and Crew Soar at Marquis

It’s hard to believe that anyone would turn down the opportunity to listen to quality acoustic jazz in a pleasant, highly civilized environment. But, sad to say, that’s what seems to be happening Sunday afternoons from 4 to 7 at the Westwood Marquis Hotel and Gardens jazz series.

Sunday’s sparsely attended program, for example, featured guitarist Tom Rotella, playing with pianist Louis Aldebert, drummer Bob Leatherbarrow and bassist Dominick Genova. The music was energetic and hard driving--even more so than one might expect from a guitar-with-rhythm ensemble.

Rotella’s gut-string playing was rich with heavily accented strumming and stingingly articulated melody lines. On bossa nova standards like “Manha de Carnival” and “Chega de Saudade,” he brought a busy, contemporary interpretation to the now-classic soaring melodies of Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

In the rhythm section, Aldebert countered Rotella’s vigorous fervor with smooth, almost vocalized improvised lines that twisted in and around the melodies with the gentle insistence of a spring zephyr.

Leatherbarrow’s rhythms, on the other hand, were as dynamic and spirited as Rotella’s guitar, but always guided by an almost compositional shifting of sounds and accents. On bass, Genova was the quiet man in the ensemble--firm, steady, but rarely seizing the spotlight for his own.

It was, in short, a fine set of contemporary jazz. So why, one wonders, did the room never hold more than 20 or 30 people? Sunday afternoon football? Late autumn barbecues?

Who knows.

But it would be unfortunate if a jazz listening arena as pleasant as the Westwood Marquis--with no cover and no minimum--had to go belly up because it didn’t attract the 100 or so listeners needed to keep its Sunday programs alive.