JAZZ REVIEW : Cahoots Gets Crowd Going With Good-Time Numbers

To be in “cahoots” implies that one is part of a collaboration, involved in a conspiracy of sometimes questionable dealings. It’s also the name bassist Luther Hughes, heard most weekends at El Matador with various guest artists, gives to his own fusion band, a conspiracy of contemporary-thinking musicians who are in league to have some fun.

The group Hughes gathered at El Matador this past weekend to celebrate the release of the second Cahoots recording, “Perfect Partners,” left no questions about what they were dealing in. The band members, most of whom appear on the new recording, on Friday night played a rollicking first set of accessible, good-time music while seemingly having as much fun as the audience. You might say the crowd was in cahoots with the musicians.

At the heart of the band’s sound is the warmth Hughes creates by blending saxophone and trombone tones, an effect much like the one saxophonist Wilton Felder and trombonist Wayne Henderson achieve for the Crusaders. Friday, trombonist Andy Martin (who appears on both Cahoots recordings) teamed with Jeff Kashiwa (the saxophonist who replaced Brandon Fields in the Rippingtons) to create burnished theme statements and high-level exchanges in a program of mostly Hughes’ originals. Guitarist Mike Higgins added sizzle and smart chording while keyboardist Tom Zink colored the proceedings with an array of sounds from his keyboard.

The group opened with the new release’s title tune “Perfect Partners,” a ballad-paced groove that recalled the Crusaders in both sound and form. “Number One Son,” from the eponymously-titled first album on Contemporary, developed from drummer Charlie Landis’ funk attack into a smooth backbeat number that featured Higgins’ steamy guitar. One very young member of the audience found the piece so entrancing that he walked right up in front of the bandstand where he was in danger of being tagged by Martin’s slide.

Kashiwa threaded lyrical, sometimes spare lines into convincing improvisations that didn’t rely on shrieks, screams or honking--the most popular artillery among fusion saxophonists--to get his point across. To kick off his solo on Hughes’ “A Conversation on the St. Martin Line,” the tenor saxophonist quoted from Miles Davis’ “Jean Pierre” before singing his own song. Martin’s robust ways on the tune contrasted nicely with the sax, and the trombonist showed off a hefty supply of breath and technique before a heated exchange between the horns.

For the most part, Hughes stayed in the background, providing sturdy, rhythmic support, punctuating with a pounding thumb or plucking strongly when a bit of bite was called for. His solo on “Romanesque,” one of only two during the first set, stayed close to the theme and far away from flash and gimmicks.

Cahoots continued Saturday at El Matador and will appear on Feb. 26 at Bon Appetit in Westwood.