JAZZ REVIEW : International Cast Offers an Engaging Set

That jazz has become an international language is no longer news, but seldom has there been a more engaging illustration of the point than can be found this week at the Catalina Bar & Grill under the name of the George Robert Quintet.

Robert, a Swiss-born alto player who now lives in Vancouver, Canada, is the nominal leader, though the star clearly is his featured soloist, trumpeter Clark Terry. In the rhythm section are bassist Isla Eckinger, a Swiss who now lives in Los Angeles, pianist Dado Moroni from Italy and Swiss drummer Peter Schmidlin.

This is, however, no pickup group. The lines played in unison and harmony by Terry and Robert at Tuesday’s opening left no doubt that they have spent many nights on the same bandstand. Their arrangement of “Mood Indigo” takes an ingenious form in which every soloist starts slow, then doubles up, then quadruples, before falling back into the original slow beat, creating an infectious sense of tension and release.

“Over the Rainbow” began with Terry scatting--an idiom to which his contribution has been as original and immediately identifiable as his trumpet or fluegelhorn. From there it went into an up-tempo bop line that gave the song a completely de-Garlandized character.

Robert’s alto displayed a clean, clear sound and was consistently inventive. The rhythm section was supportive and cohesive, with Moroni in particularly fierce form on “Tepee Time,” a blues with a bridge.

Regardless of its diverse origins, this mainstream-cum-bop unit is infectiously successful in getting its cheerfully personal message across. The quintet closes Sunday.