Jazz Buff Goes It Alone to Bolster Others’ Careers

In only a year, local jazz buff Tony Sidotti has parlayed his connections and genuine love of the music into a viable career as a talent manager.

Sidotti joined Brady & Associates, the San Diego entertainment management company, a year ago and quickly brought top talent under his wing. He left Brady last month, and his recruits left with him; his roster now includes guitarists Barney Kessel and Mundell Lowe, flutist Holly Hofmann, German trombonist Jiggs Whigham, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, pianist Mike Wofford and Australian trombonist James Morrison.

In addition, Sidotti signed pianist Bill Mays last month and just last week added Braziljazz, the trio featuring Del Mar guitarist Peter Sprague, former San Diego singer Kevyn Lettau and Lettau’s husband, percussionist Michael Shapiro.

“I’m really excited about going on my own,” Sidotti, 48, said. “I’m looking forward to moving some of these careers forward.”

In case it’s not obvious, Sidotti represents only straight-ahead jazz players. His primary responsibility for most of the acts is booking them for live performances.

“I’ve loved jazz since I was a kid,” said Sidotti, who grew up in New Brunswick, N.J. “My brother was a piano player. In the 1950s, you had a choice of rock ‘n’ roll or Chet Baker and Stan Getz. I went for Getz. I started collecting records, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

An older friend began taking Sidotti out to New York clubs while Sidotti was still a teen-ager to hear greats like Count Basie, Art Blakey and Cannonball Adderley.

Sidotti moved from New Jersey to San Jose in 1980, then to San Diego, where he owned Newport Annie’s restaurant in Mission Beach from 1981 to 1988 (no, it didn’t have live music).

On KSDS-FM (88.3), the San Diego City College jazz station, Sidotti has had his own show, “Potpourri,” for six years. You can hear him Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon, mixing music and interviews with top jazz players.

Sidotti said the parting with Brady was amicable.

“They wanted to go in a direction away from jazz and more into event and party planning,” he said. “I felt it would be better to do what I do on my own.”

All of a sudden, San Diego is no longer a one-club town (Elario’s) when it comes to national jazz talent.

With Elario’s broadening its repertoire beyond straight-ahead jazz, which had been its staple, to include blues and light jazz, other venues are moving in with straight-ahead jazz shows.

The Horton Grand Hotel downtown, which has, in the past, brought numerous fine Los Angeles players to town, goes one step further with shows this Friday and Saturday nights featuring Kenny Burrell, a guitarist of international renown. On March 22-23, reedman Buddy Collette comes to town for his first performances at the Horton.

Also downtown, the U.S. Grant Hotel plans to host performances by top national jazz players in its 300-seat Pavilion Room, beginning in May with pianist Tommy Flanagan. New York pianist John Hicks plays the Grant this week (more on that later).

Burrell, Collette and Hicks played Elario’s last time they were in San Diego, so their downtown visits signal a shift in the local club scene.

“The fact that I got Kenny Burrell at the Horton Grand is amazing,” said San Diego jazz flutist Holly Hofmann, who books the 110-seat hotel bar. “We don’t always have the budget for people of his caliber. Happily, a lot of people have been telling him about the Horton Grand. He’s bringing his wife, and he’ll have a nice weekend. They really cater to the players. The only edge I feel in booking players, as another player, is I can communicate about how the conditions really are in the room.”

Rob Hagey, the talent coordinator for Elario’s, wouldn’t speculate as to why the three artists chose to go downtown this time around. But he did acknowledge that San Diego seems to have only a limited appetite for jazz, and if too much is served up, some club will be left with a half-eaten meal.

“I think more jazz in the market helps initially, although too much jazz will dilute the audience,” he said. “Consistent programming with quality performers will prevail.

“This city has not always been a great supporter of jazz. I’m not going to say anything other than I’m glad this is happening, although if it impacts other businesses, including Elario’s, then we all have to take a look at it.”

Burrell, who lives in New York, has been staying in Los Angeles since January, teaching the jazz history class he has taught for 12 years at UCLA. The emphasis is on Duke Ellington. Burrell has become such an Ellington authority that the Smithsonian Institution interviewed him last week for its oral history collection.

Burrell’s last album was “Guiding Spirit” (1990), also featuring vibraphonist Jay Hoggard. He heads back into the studio in June.

A sometime singer, Burrell is working on a commissioned piece for the Harlem Boys’ Choir. Burrell’s lone vocal album was the 1960 “Weaver of Dreams” (Columbia).

RIFFS: Pianist John Hicks’ new album, “Live at Maybeck Recital Hall,” is a solo tour de force. Hicks gives impressionistic readings of great tunes by Miles Davis, Cole Porter, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell and others. Hicks is a technically awesome player who builds dense, swirling layers of notes around a tune’s melodic and harmonic themes. The album is like a meditation on the history of jazz, filtered through Hicks’ contemporary sensibilities. He appears tonight and Wednesday from 6 to 10 with flutist Elise Woods at the U.S. Grant Hotel downtown, and again Friday and Saturday nights (March 15-16) at 8 at All That Jazz in Rancho Bernardo. . . .

Papa John Creach works Elario’s this Wednesday through Sunday. . . .

Tobacco Road plays the “Jazz Live” series at San Diego City College Theater tonight at 8. The band will host a release party for its new album, “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” at the U.S. Grant Hotel Monday night from 7 to 9. . . .

Jack Aldridge and his 20-piece Swing Band play Wednesday night from 7:30 to 11 at the San Diego Women’s Club, with room for dancing. . . .

Percussionist Jaime Valle appears tonight at 8 at the Marquis Public Theater in the Ruse performance group’s “Jazz Tuesdays” series.