Capp/Pierce’s Toe-Tapping Tunes Sound a Lot Like Count Basie and Woody Herman Hits

In the music business, the word commercial definitely has more than one meaning.

To a recording company executive, it might suggest a mega-hit, like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

To drummer Frank Capp and pianist/composer/arranger Nat Pierce, who lead the Los Angeles-based jazz orchestra commonly known as the Capp/Pierce Juggernaut, commercial simply means having a vocalist in the band and playing music that might be called “toe-tapping.”

“People are paying to be entertained. If they want avant-garde, or Ornette Coleman, they’re not going to come and hear our band,” said the tall, robust 66-year-old Pierce during a conversation at Capp’s Studio City home.

“Our fans know what to expect--that they can pat their foot and possibly whistle an air or two,” said Pierce with a broad smile.

“Or dance to it,” said Capp, 59, who is recovering rather quickly from an operation for an aneurysm on April 30. “Our feeling is that we should give the people something entertaining without compromising the music.”

The Capp/Pierce band’s Concord Jazz releases--the latest of which is the newly issued “Juggernaut”--don’t sell even in the hundreds of thousands, let alone millions. But since its inception in 1975, the ensemble has gathered a solid Southern California following and is one of the most popular non-touring jazz bands around.

The group plays today at the Times Mirror Central Court of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Thursday on the Santa Monica Pier and next Sunday at the Malibu Arts Fair in Malibu. (Capp, who is touring the Eastern United States with Frank Sinatra, will miss today’s performance; Frank DeVito will appear in his place.)

One key to the band’s success is that much of its material is patterned after, if not directly taken from, the repertoires of the Count Basie and Woody Herman orchestras. Pierce was associated with both.

He met Basie in 1950 in Boston, and their musical friendship lasted until Basie’s death in 1984. Pierce often substituted for Basie at rehearsals, and when the bandleader suffered a heart attack in the late ‘70s, Pierce toured in his stead. Pierce worked for Herman, both as pianist and arranger, from 1951-55, and again from 1961-66.

The Juggernaut, which got its nickname from a 1976 review by Times jazz critic Leonard Feather, offers such Basie numbers as “April in Paris,” “Basie” and “Little Pony,” as well as tunes Herman performed, such as “Sister Sadie.”

“But it doesn’t matter whether you play something exactly the way someone else did, either as an arrangement or an improvised solo, it still comes out like you,” Pierce said.

Pierce reveals his personality in the band’s sound.

“I like a nice big, fat sound that’s not too heavy, and, by the same token, not too light,” Pierce said, whose career has included performances with Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge and other mainstream jazz greats. “Something that swings, something that would be Basie’s idea of what a big band should sound like, which means you can pat your foot to it.”

“Our style, which is close to Basie’s style, is based around block ensemble writing,” said Capp, referring to harmonized parts for winds and brass that make the many instruments almost sound like one big instrument.

“We don’t use linear style writing, with a lot of lines going in different directions, that might characterize the music of someone like Bill Holman, whose music I love,” added the drummer.

Holman, returning a compliment, feels that Capp and Pierce have succeeded in their chosen mode. “Nat and Frank really capture that Basie flavor,” he said. “They have a lot of enthusiasm.”

Another factor in the band’s consistent appeal has been the addition of a vocalist. Ernie Andrews, Joe Williams and Ernestine Anderson have recorded with the ensemble, while currently Barbara Morrison, a rousing blues belter who also can handle jazz tunes with a fervent aplomb, works most of the band’s engagements. She will perform today and July 28.

A third element that’s kept the Capp/Pierce band a favorite with listeners is the talent of its musicians. Through the years the lineup has boasted saxophonists Marshall Royal, Pete Christlieb, Red Holloway, Richie Kamuca, Bob Cooper and Rickey Woodard; trumpeters Bill Berry, Blue Mitchell, Snooky Young, Al Aarons, Bobby Shew and Frank Szabo, and trombonists Buster Cooper, Thurman Green and Garnett Brown.

Trumpeter Berry leads his own Los Angeles big band, of which Capp has been the drummer since it began in 1971. Berry is a charter member of Capp/Pierce.

“I’ve been there since the first gig at King Arthur’s” in Canoga Park, Berry said. “I’m in there because it’s a helluva band, a great band, and it swings, which is what I believe in. All the guys are professional jazz musicians, they’ve always worked in jazz. It’s like family. And it’s funny. Although we use a lot of the same personnel, their band and mine sound totally different.”