Jazz : Fine Start for ‘Music Center’ Series

The only complaint that should be filed against “Jazz at the Music Center” is that it started many years too late. If Friday’s concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was an augury of things to come, this venue will make up for lost time.

Three contrasting idioms were represented: repertory music, small group sounds and colorful, contemporary big band effusions.

James Newton conducted the CalArts Jazz Ensemble (a mix of students and local professionals) in an introspective retrospective devoted to the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Ellington revivals too often lean on over-familiar material. Newton, however, is a chance-taker: Of the six works played, only “The Mooche” is common currency.

Two themes from the Strayhorn-Ellington Shakespeare suite “Such Sweet Thunder,” one from an Ellington sacred concert and a Strayhorn piece from “The Queen’s Suite” were rendered with sensitivity on ensemble and solo levels alike. If the precise flavor of the originals could not be duplicated, at least their unique character in terms of form and texture was captured.

The final piece was “Black,” the opening movement from Ellington’s longest and greatest work, “Black, Brown and Beige.” An arrangement by Daniel Nielson, Newton’s pianist, faithfully retained the variously jubilant and sorrowful spirit of the work.

Newton, a virtuoso flutist, only performed an opening solo, but his conducting and his contribution to the charts were exemplary.

Les McCann’s quintet played a few originals such as “Batyan” and “Morning Sun,” followed by his perennial vocal ballad “With These Hands” and his no-less-durable “Compared to What.”

McCann’s piano and singing pleased the crowd, but it was his alto player, Keith Henderson, who almost destroyed the hall with a manic, explosive yet intelligently crafted solo style. Beyond question he was the sensation of the evening. Jeff Elliott played brilliant fluegelhorn with his right hand and a small keyboard with his left.

Gerald Wilson, reviewed here recently during the Playboy jazz cruise, delivered a similar set, embellished by the hall’s fine acoustics. He added three typically self-assured vocals by Ernie Andrews.