Arturo Cipriano’s Music Is Hard to Put Into a Slot

Categories can’t contain Arturo Cipriano’s music, but the umbrella “Pan-South American jazz” gives some indication of where he’s coming from.

Cipriano--a 43-year-old Mexico-born flute and sax player who will appear at the Marquis Public Theater on Friday night as part of Rusefest ’91 and again next Tuesday night, cites American jazz legends Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane and Julius Hemphill as seminal influences. But the rhythms, percussion and wind instrument sounds he has assimilated during 20 years of nearly constant travel through South America are an even greater presence in his music.

His fifth album, “El Costumbre,” recorded in Tijuana and released in 1989, is a lush, tropical forest of fluttering, crying flute, dense guitar and gentle percussion that urges the music forward like a soft rain. Cipriano made the recording with a large ensemble, and he functions as a conductor as much as a soloist. But this weekend his own playing will be more in the spotlight as he teams Friday with percussionist Jorge Pena and next Tuesday with a small group from Tijuana.

Cipriano is a late bloomer who didn’t come to jazz until he was 20 years old.

“Before that? I play football,” he joked. “After that, I tried to do chemistry, biology, I tried for several months, then I saw someplace that had a music school and I decided I need to do something with my life.”

Cipriano went to music school in Mexico City, then studied with Brazilian guitarist Joao Aquino for two years in the early 1970s. He traveled and played in different groups until 1976, when he formed a band he named Nopalera, which stayed together for five years and recorded four albums, none of them released in the United States. During the 1980s, Cipriano lived, at various times, in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Tijuana, Oaxaca and his native San Luis Potosi.

In San Diego, Cipriano’s shows will include at least six new tunes he has penned with the minimal, percussion-and-reeds duo format in mind. He also plans to include songs by pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and Brazilian composer Caetano Beloso.

Sharing the bill next Tuesday will be a trio of avant-garde musicians from Los Angeles led by guitarist Michael Whitmore. Music on both nights starts at 8.

KIFM’s Lites Out Jazz club circuit, once a seven-night-a-week promotional effort, is down to three nights: Thursdays at the B St. Cafe downtown; Saturdays at Barnett’s at the Embassy Suites Hotel downtown; and Sundays at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island. “We’ve been doing Humphrey’s and the B St. for six years, so those will probably never change,” said KIFM program director Bob O’Connor. “There was a time when we were doing seven nights a week, but we wanted to make it more special, so we cut back to four. We’re negotiating with several clubs for the fourth (Friday night) position.” Meanwhile, KIFM is planning an anniversary party, this one to celebrate “Sweet 16” at the Golden Triangle Hyatt Hotel. The June 23 blowout, which will utilize several tennis courts, will feature big-name talent (the station is hoping to sign ultra-light jazz saxophonist Kenny G as headliner) and a budget expected to approach $250,000. O’Connor said the station hopes to draw 7,000, or 2,000 more than attended last year’s bash.

Budding jazz players of all ages are invited to a blues workshop tonight at 7 at Poway High School, 15500 Espola Road. The workshop will be led by top San Diego musicians Joe Azarello on piano, Bruce Babad on sax, Rob Thorsen on bass and Reno Calice on drums. Players with a basic knowledge of technique and scales should bring instruments; at 9, the group will be broken into small ensembles to work on Charlie Parker’s “Now Is the Time.” The evening will be capped with a 10 p.m. set by the professionals. Cost of the workshop is $45.

RIFFS: Drummer Elvin Jones’ June 13-16 dates at Elario’s have been canceled, with a likely rescheduling for mid-summer. He will be replaced with bluesman Floyd Dixon . . . .

Saxophonist Mark Lessman and his band play Thursday through Saturday nights at the B St. Cafe downtown. Lessman is working on material for a new album, and he hopes to land a recording deal soon. A self-produced CD released last year gained radio play in a few markets across the country, but not a deal with a label. . . .

Trumpeter Harry (Sweets) Edison plays the new Jazz Note club above Diego’s restaurant in Pacific Beach, May 30-June 2 and June 6-9.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: McFERRIN TO TAKE ON HUMPHREY’S

Once regarded as an entire orchestra rolled into one, vocalist Bobby McFerrin has expanded his concept to include many voices.

With his 10-member Voicestra, McFerrin, who plays Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay on Wednesday night at 8, attains a dizzying array of sounds on his most recent recording, “Medicine Music,” released last year. The follow up to the 1988 “Simple Pleasures,” which produced the McFerrin signature tune “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” the new recording fairly glows with a spiritual and primal aura, the result of McFerrin’s deep spirituality (the song “Discipline” is his interpretation of three Biblical verses) and strong ties to ancient African rhythms and chants (especially apparent on the song “He Ran All the Way”).

“Medicine Music” is McFerrin’s most mature outing. Earlier efforts, including “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” came off as amusing displays of virtuosity, but the music on “Medicine Man” connects on deeper levels: emotional, spiritual, even intellectual. McFerrin wrote all of the lyrics, and they find him exploring prejudice (“Angry”), child-raising (“Baby”) and ancient ways of healing (“Medicine Man”). Tickets for McFerrin’s are $27.