San Diego Jazz Scene Has Growing Pains

San Diego’s jazz club scene has matured, but not without growing pains.

In the past two years alone, clubs such as the Bella Via, Our Place, Vic’s and Diego’s Loft have closed or discontinued jazz. But venues such as Croce’s, the Horton Grand Hotel and All That Jazz in Rancho Bernardo emerged to take their places.

Other jazz spots, such as the Catamaran and Chuck’s Steakhouse, switched from traditional, straight-ahead jazz to light-contemporary jazz to lure larger crowds. And thus began the great debate between the light jazzers and the traditional purists.

Light, or “contemporary,” jazz was popularized by KIFM (98.1) radio during the 1980s. You don’t need a lot of patience or musical education to appreciate its simple, predictable melodies, which are seldom interrupted by improvisation. By contrast, spontaneous improvisation is the common characteristic of such traditional jazz forms as Big Band music or the small-group be-bop originated by players such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker during the 1940s. This essential difference has left two camps of fans and musicians at odds.

“Some people take exception to the fact that they call that music jazz,” said Tony Sidotti, a disc jockey on KSDS-FM (88.3) who also books straight-ahead jazz in local clubs. “However, I do feel that the end result of KIFM’s music is more positive than negative. You’ve seen some of that in the last year, with (light jazz players such as) David Benoit and Lee Ritenour doing straight-ahead jazz albums.”

The KIFM-sponsored Lites Out Jazz club circuit now features jazz at the Catamaran, Humphrey’s, Anthony’s Harborside and other venues six nights a week. In some clubs, light jazz preempted other forms of jazz.

The Catamaran in Pacific Beach and Chuck’s Steakhouse (not on KIFM’s circuit) in La Jolla, for example, were straight-ahead venues that went light.

“For some 20 years, we were sort of a (straight-ahead) jazz club,” said George Harrington, general manager at the Catamaran for six years. “When I got to town in 1985, I met Art Good,” who pioneered light jazz on KIFM. “We went over to Humphrey’s one night to hear light jazz, and the place was packed. We decided to go with it at the Catamaran.

“There was no conscious decision to use contemporary jazz over straight-ahead. It was just something that was happening in 1985, and it looked like a good way to fill the room on Wednesday nights. It was a winner from Day One. The room seats 350, and it has been full the last three Wednesdays.”

Harrington doubts he will ever go back to straight-ahead jazz. He doesn’t think the light jazz and rock fans who now flock to the hotel’s Cannibal Bar on different nights would have much use for it.

“Lites Out Jazz is winning, unfortunately,” said bassist Kevin Hennessy, who plays a variety of jazz with several local bands. “I love to play straight-ahead jazz, but I never get calls for it.”

Yet some clubs have kept their traditional jazz, and persistence sometimes allows them to build loyal followings.

“We’ve spent as much as $10,000 a month subsidizing our jazz, but now it pretty much breaks even,” said Ingrid Croce, who features local straight-ahead jazz groups twice a day, seven days a week at Croce’s, the downtown restaurant and bar she owns.

One debate between fans of the two musics has centered on whether KIFM and contemporary jazz can help bring new listeners to other forms of jazz.

“Does the popularity of light jazz help KSDS and straight-ahead jazz?” said Tony Sisti, programming director at KSDS. “I don’t know. The sense I get is KIFM brings listeners to KIFM. Our audience doesn’t tolerate much contemporary jazz. A guy called in today while we were playing a Chuck Mangione song and said, ‘Do us a favor. No more Chuck Mangione.’ We play a little fusion or contemporary jazz, but we’re very selective. We don’t play Kenny G., but we would play something like the Yellowjackets and Michael Brecker.”

Kenny Weissberg, who prefers traditional jazz to the light jazz he presents during the summer Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay series, nonetheless thinks KIFM deserves some credit.

“They play a lot of music that doesn’t get much radio play anywhere else. They have more artists and songs on their list than Q-106, B-100, KGB or even 91X. In terms of taking chances, no one in commercial radio takes chances, which leaves it to college or nonprofit radio to play people like Jelly Roll Morton or Miles Davis.”

A healthy trend from all this is the blurring of borders among varieties of jazz.

KSDS plays the top contemporary and traditional jazz albums of the week on its “Friday Night Countdown” program.

Elario’s, the La Jolla club that for years featured only veterans of straight-ahead jazz, is branching out, even trying to lure KIFM’s audience.

“Straight-ahead jazz is a very, very tough art form to make money in,” said Rob Hagey, who books Elario’s.

Since Hagey began coordinating the talent last spring, Elario’s has expanded its lineup to include not only established, legendary straight-ahead players such as Art Farmer, Benny Carter and Kenny Burrell, but also rising straight-ahead musicians such as Christopher Hollyday and Marcus Roberts; cutting-edge jazz musicians, including Sun Ra and Bill Frisell, and even KIFM favorites such as Tim Eyermann.

“I think if KIFM’s audience comes into the club to hear talent they recognize, they might come back to hear a straight-ahead band and like it.