Alto Saxman McPherson to Play the Grant Hotel

San Diegan Charles McPherson--the Charlie Parker-inspired alto saxophonist revered in Europe and Japan but underappreciated at home--will make a rare appearance Saturday at the U.S. Grant Hotel downtown.

McPherson, 51, is a critically acclaimed player with a long list of credits, including the sound track for the Clint Eastwood-directed movie “Bird,” but he still has a hard time landing the recording deal.

“The people who make decisions as to who gets recorded don’t really have faith in the music because they’re into making money, and they want to make fast money,” McPherson said. “So they deal in music that they consider palatable to the public. If the kind of music I play was exposed more through airplay, television, whatever, more people would like it. One thing about jazz records: They sell over a period of time. Some jazz records might go gold over a 15- or 20-year period, but people in the recording business want to make their money faster.”

McPherson has released only three albums in the last eight years: the 1983 “The Prophet,” and two 1989 projects: a collaboration with vibraphonist Dave Pike titled “Bluebird,” and “Follow the Bouncing Ball,” which combined several new tunes with previously released cuts.

“It’s like the old biblical saying, ‘The prophet is not known is his own home town,’ ” McPherson said of his ongoing struggle for proper recognition in the United States. “I stay committed just because of the love of the music. If you love what you’re doing, that in itself is a reward. I have a saying: ‘Art is its own reward.’ If you can make money with it, that’s very nice. “I survive because I have made 25 or 30 albums as a leader over the years, and I’m documented enough, because of the records and being around long enough, to be in demand.”

McPherson has been shopping around a new album of original music. If he doesn’t land a distribution deal, he’ll release the album on his own. Either way, it will be out by March.

“It’s new music, written mostly last year,” McPherson said. “It represents how I play, think and feel now. I would say it’s contemporary straight-ahead jazz, not bebop.

“It’s different from bop. I take more chances harmonically, rhythmically, melodically. My original melodies tend to have less notes than older bebop melodies. Maybe I draw upon the blues a bit more.

“I think my songs are simpler melodically and more involved harmonically (than bop). My harmonies are original, whereas the beboppers put new melodies to older chord changes.

“The treatment of the music is different now than what I would have done 20 years ago. I can take more time to develop a theme--songs can be longer.”

Like many jazz players, McPherson is most in demand in Europe and Japan, and, as usual, he’ll make foreign ventures this spring and summer. During April, he’ll tour Spain, playing clubs with pickup bands, and next summer, he’ll see more of Europe, including stops in England.

At the U.S. Grant, McPherson will be joined by Rob Thorson on bass, Duncan Moore on drums, Mike Wofford on piano and Gary Scott on tenor sax. Music starts at 8.

At 19, Joey DeFrancesco has been playing organ for 15 years and, with two critically acclaimed albums to his credit, is touted by some as the heir apparent to the King of Blues Organ crown worn, at times, by Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Richard (Groove) Holmes and Jack McDuff.

DeFrancesco, who opens five nights at Elario’s on Wednesday, reveres the legends of blues organ, but he has his own vision for the instrument, which hasn’t exactly been in the limelight of late.

“The biggest thing is that there wasn’t a new face, or anyone doing anything new and creative,” he said. “The last was, like, Larry Young. He did a lot of innovative things in the 1960s, but when he died in the 1970s, innovation stopped.

“My style is different. I’ve listened to a lot of horn players: Miles, Coltrane, Cannonball, Charlie Parker.”

The fleeting, melodic lines DeFrancesco dreams up show their influence.

“A lot of what I’m doing also has to do with the band. I’ve got a drummer (Byron Landham) that’s playing more in an (aggressive) Elvin Jones, Tony Williams style, but he can also settle into a groove.”

Although DeFrancesco’s last album, “Where Were You?” features an all-star cast, he is touring with his own band, which also plays on his new album, “Part Three,” due for release next month.

Show times at Elario’s are 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 9 and 10:30 p.m. and midnight Friday and Saturday.

Only a few hundred people turned out for the Jan. 13 “Big Band Jamboree” at the San Diego Sports Arena featuring the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, but that doesn’t necessarily mean San Diegans aren’t up for swing. They simply want to shake a leg, and the arena isn’t the right place.

“Several of us were planning to go,” said Big Band fan Tom Leech, a corporate presentations consultant. “But when we called to ask about the dance floor, they said it would be on the concrete. If you’ve ever danced on concrete, it wears your legs out very fast. We said, ‘The heck with it.’ No one’s very thrilled about going to an event like that at the Sports Arena anyway. It just is not a charming place.”

Instead, Leech and his friends prefer to swing dance in more intimate venues. This Saturday night they will get their chance when the Jack Aldridge Big Band, one of the few active local swing ensembles, plays the Federal Building in Balboa Park from 7:45-11:15 p.m. Admission is $9.50.

RIFFS: Pianist David Benoit’s two Jan. 26 performances at the 1,200-seat East County Performing Arts Center were about half full, but promoter Jeff Gaulton isn’t troubled. He figures it will take time to build a following for his “Simply Jazz” series, which continues Friday night with shows at 7 and 10 featuring guitarist Larry Carlton. . . .

Trombonist/composer Tom McIntosh, a frequent associate of Dizzy Gillespie and San Diegan James Moody, plays the U.S. Grant Hotel today and Wednesday from 6-10 p.m. . . .

Saxophonist Skeets Herfurt, a veteran of the great Big Bands, spearheads the jazz at San Luis Rey Downs Resort in Bonsall tonight from 6 to 9. Former New York saxophonist Carl Janelli, now living in Vista, plays the resort Friday and Saturday nights and Feb. 22 and 23 from 7:30 to 11. . . .

Denver-based pianist/singer Ellyn Rucker works the All That Jazz club in Rancho Bernardo on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 with bassist Tom Azarello. . . .

Singers Angela Talbot, Dean Holt and Glenn Miller focus on the music of Tin Pan Alley, the stuff of Broadway musicals, Sunday from 2-4 p.m. at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla.