2nd-Generation Clarinetist Prefers Traditional to Bop

Many musicians still worship be-bop, almost 50 years after Charlie Parker made his seminal recordings. Jimmie Noone thinks the music was nearly disastrous.

“Be-bop almost killed jazz,” said Noone, the San Diego sax and clarinet player known for his work with Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham and the Sweet Baby Blues Band. “It got so cerebral, people couldn’t listen to it anymore. Dominant sixth? Dorian ninth? People don’t give a damn. They just want to tap their feet.

“Jazz is supposed to be a happy music, a fun music,” added Noone, 53, who went through his own bop period early in his career.

These days, he prefers the jazz of the 1920s and 1930s he plays with his new band, Jimmie Noone and the New Orleans Marching Society and Good Times Society Band.

The group makes its debut Saturday night and then performs again Jan. 19 at the U.S. Grant Hotel Lounge downtown. Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton and Noone’s father, also named Jimmie, a New Orleans clarinetist, are among the musicians whose music is given a spirited revival by Noone’s band.

Noone was born into jazz. His father, who died in 1944, was among the top jazz clarinetists in New Orleans during the formative years of jazz, when the clarinet was a mainstay of jazz bands.

Later, his mother married Troy Floyd, a Texas jazz band leader. Floyd moved his new family to San Diego in 1952, where he helped run The Creole Palace, the premier black night club in downtown San Diego. In its heyday, the club was host to prestige jazz players such as Duke Ellington and Dinah Washington, giving the young Noone first-hand exposure to the greats.

Noone’s new group includes several of his longtime local associates, such as trombonist Oliver Luck. The group’s singer, Rosie Tatum, who has seldom worked clubs until now, packs enough power, Noone says, to do justice to Bessie Smith songs.

The appearance by Noone & Co. is only a small part of the expanded jazz program at the U.S. Grant. A new Sunday jazz series will begin Jan. 17, with a house band led by saxophonist Steve Feierabend backing such internationally known players as saxman Charles McPherson and guitarist Joe Diorio. The headliner for the opening night hasn’t been confirmed yet. For the moment, the 200-capacity U.S. Grant Lounge is a bargain for jazz buffs, with jazz several nights a week, no cover charge and no drink minimum.

Trumpet and fluegelhorn man Bobby Shew makes his first local appearance in several years this Friday and Saturday at the Horton Grand Hotel downtown.

Shew, who lives in Los Angeles, isn’t that well known, but his music has always won praise from critics and peers. This surprises him, but not because he doesn’t think he deserves the Grammy nominations or great reviews.

“I always feel I don’t want to turn out an album I’m not proud of,” he explained. “There’s no reason to turn out a mediocre album, although in this day and age, some people do. Something has happened in this society. People just don’t care about quality anymore.”

True to his word, Shew hasn’t released a U.S. album since the 1984 “ ‘Round Midnight” because he didn’t feel he had anything fresh to offer.

“That particular album I felt very good about,” he said. “I felt I made a move forward with something lyrical in my playing. A lot of other people that heard it felt the same way, that a simplistic kind of communication occurred.”

Shew has two new albums due for release this spring: one with an 80-piece orchestra, recorded in Amsterdam, the other with a band that includes trumpeter Tom Harrell, frequent Miles Davis keyboard player Kei Akagi, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Roy McCurdy.

For years, Shew made his living playing for television shows and commercials, but he gave up studio work in 1982.

“I did 14 years’ worth, and it’s just dumb music. It’s junk, you’re just playing stuff for background on television, selling hamburgers and automobiles. Plus the fact that when you’re doing music like that that’s not creative, there’s no soloing--maybe on ‘Love Boat,’ you get an eight-measure solo on a dance sequence, but mostly it’s just turning it out like a sausage factory.”

Instead of languishing in dark studios, Shew takes his music on the road. He is in constant demand both domestically and abroad, and spent 301 days touring last year.

At the Horton Grand, he’ll be joined by Akagi and local bassist Bob Magnusson, who was in Shew’s band from 1978 to 1983. The drummer-less format (dictated by Gaslamp Quarter noise restrictions) should force Magnusson and Akagi to take a more driving role than usual. Shows begin at 8:30 each night.

Local saxman and pianist Daniel Jackson unveils several new compositions and a new band tonight at 8 at the Marquis Public Theatre, as the Ruse, a nonprofit performing arts group, presents the first of a new Tuesday night straight-ahead jazz series.

The lineup will include Derek Cannon on trumpet, Burnett Anderson on fluegelhorn, Brett Saunders and Chuck McPherson trading off on drums, Dave Marr on bass, Manzo Hill on alto sax and Lila Brown on vocals.

Jackson has written 11 new pieces in recent months, with special arrangements for this ensemble.

The straight-ahead series at the 103-seat Marquis will showcase musicians playing original music. The $5 cover charge will go to the musicians.

RIFFS: Tonight from 8 to 10, pianist Al Daniels kicks off the 15th year of live jazz radio concerts presented by KSDS-FM (88.3). He will be backed by top locals Steve Feierabend on sax, Rob Thorsen on bass and Danny Campbell on drums. The concert in the San Diego City College Theater at C and 14th streets is free. . . .

Del Mar guitarist Peter Sprague will be the star of KPBS-TV’s “Club Date” program this Saturday at 8:30 p.m., repeating Monday at 1:30 p.m. . . .

The a cappella group Pieces sings Friday evening from 5:30 to 8 at Croce’s downtown.