JAZZ REVIEW : Flanagan Keeps Bop Tradition Alive

Pianist Tommy Flanagan, appearing through Sunday at Catalina’s, has been described as poetic, graceful and eloquent--adjectives not usually attached to a committed bebopper.

For his admirers, who are legion, this is a main clue to Flanagan’s success. After arriving in New York from his native Detroit, he was fascinated by the legacy of Charlie Parker, and by such bop pioneers as the pianist Bud Powell, for whom he sometimes subbed at Birdland. Through the years, his admiration for bop has remained undimmed, as was evident in his first show Tuesday.

One of his familiar devices is a 2-for-1 treatment of George Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” intermingled with Charlie Parker’s “Quasimodo,” which is based on the identical chord pattern. Later, he played the works of other ‘40s giants, among them Dizzy Gillespie (“Tin Tin Deo”) and J. J. Johnson (the exquisite ballad “Lament”).

A longtime student of Ellingtonia, Flanagan lent his touch to a Billy Strayhorn medley of “Raincheck” and “Passion Flower”--the latter devoted mainly to a bowed solo by George Mraz, Flanagan’s phenomenal bassist. Throughout the set, Mraz served as a third hand for the leader. Drummer Larance Marable also contributed sensitively to this trio-con-brio (he will give way Thursday to Flanagan’s regular drummer, Lewis Nash).