Jazz : Wolff Aims Low at Bon Appetit

Michael Wolff’s quartet may have been described in Friday’s listings in The Times as an acoustic group, but it turned out to be about as acoustic as the electric chair.

In a set at the Bon Appetit, the pianist-composer was joined by John B. Williams, his “Arsenio Hall Show” colleague, on electric bass; Freddie Ravel, a synthesist who on one occasion blew through his mouth to alter the funky sounds with a breath control; and Chester Thompson, a technically adroit drummer.

Wolff reminisced about his days with Cal Tjader (whose 1954 mambo “Guarchi Guaro” ended the set) and--after a few jokes about growing up Jewish in Mississippi--he sang a lyric borrowed from B. B. King. Wolff is no King. His no-nonsense blues piano was effective until it doubled and quadrupled its way into an all-nonsense chaotic climax.

As a composer, Wolff was well represented by a beguiling waltz, “Goodby Too Late,” but others, heavier on energy than melody, could have been written by anyone with a 10th of Wolff’s talent, in about as long as it took to play them. Clearly he was aiming not at the fans who saw him with Art Farmer at the 1982 Playboy Jazz Festival, but at the Arsenio crowd.