Garfield Keys on Diverse Influences for Originals, Arrangements

Give a brief listen to a performance by David Garfield and you’ll know in a flash that here’s a musician with a today view of jazz.

Take his interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s classic blues, “Straight, No Chaser,” which was first recorded by Monk in a 1951 session for Blue Note Records with a quintet that featured vibist Milt Jackson and drummer Art Blakey.

“I do that almost like the rock band Little Feat would, using a New Orleans second line parade beat,” says Garfield, a native of St. Louis who plays with his quartet Monday in the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks.

Garfield, who has recorded with jazz artists such as Freddie Hubbard and pop stars such as Cher, believes in trying to make his approach as fresh as possible.

“I like to take the jazz of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s and take it further, pull out all the stops, come up with something that’s never been done before,” says the man who is basically self-taught at the keyboard and who names Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett as primary influences.

This exploratory direction is exemplified by a recent composition called “Sexual Harassment,” says the keyboardist, who plays be-bop with a hard-edged attack and has a sure sense of the rhythmic snap of funk.

“The first section has a passage played by the ensemble while the drums go crazy,” says Garfield, who lives in Van Nuys. “Then, later, there’s a part where the band plays a repeating figure, like a drone and the bass solos.”

Diverse influences, from funk and Latin to R & B and hip-hop, surface in Garfield’s originals and in his arrangements of tunes by other composers, among them Hancock, Don Grolnick and Joe Zawinul.

“My style has got all the elements of jazz and be-bop, but it has modern harmonic and rhythmic influences,” he says. “It’s the melting-pot effect where you’re bringing in things like Latin, funk, R & B and rock and marrying them with jazz.”

So a tune that blends be-bop and Latin genres aims more at the heart than at the head, believes Garfield, who’s joined at the Room Upstairs by saxophonist Larry Klimas, bassist John Pena and drummer Gregg Bissonette.

“People relate to Latin rhythms with their bodies,” he says. “If we play be-bop with the traditional swing feel, then we don’t get to as many people. Straight-ahead sometimes is too cerebral.”

Garfield, who also appears with the jazz-rock band Los Lobotomys and fellow keyboardist Terry Trotter and saxophonist Brandon Fields, makes no bones about the fact that he wants his performances to have an impact on listeners.

“It’s important to get people off with what I play,” he says. “I always try to establish good audience rapport.”

In the diminutive 56-seat confines of the Room Upstairs, Garfield won’t wander into the crowd to entice fans with a solo on a portable synthesizer, as he might do in a larger club.

But he promises that he will get up from the acoustic piano and strap on a plugged-in keyboard to spend at least some of his performance time in the front line with Klimas.

While Garfield enjoys the enhanced audience attention engendered by such a maneuver, he’s much more excited about the independence and shift of format that’s brought about by this more horn-like role.

But when he solos, he make sure that he packs plenty of emotion into his statements. He learned that lesson long ago as a teen-ager new to jazz.

“When I was playing in clubs and jam sessions in St. Louis, it was emphasized over and over by the mostly black musicians that I played with that it didn’t matter how much technique you had, but how much feeling,” he says.

Trotter, who appears on “Recollections,” the latest in a series of albums featuring Los Angeles-based contemporary jazz artists (Garfield has produced it for a Japanese label), is one artist who says that Garfield delivers the goods when he performs.

“He has a natural approach to the piano,” says the pianist, who has played with singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, guitarist Larry Carlton and vibist Charlie Shoemake. “He’s very fluid, and he has this fabulous time feeling.”

Garfield came to Los Angeles in 1974, right out of high school, and was soon swimming in fast waters. He played and recorded with the late Latin singer-percussionist Willie Bobo and then, in 1976, joined Freddie Hubbard for two years, recording on the brilliant trumpeter’s “Bundle of Joy” album on Columbia, and contributing two compositions to the session.

After leaving Hubbard, Garfield broadened his horizons. He started his own band, Karizma, a jazz-rock outfit that still performs now and then. He also made his way into the L. A. recording studios. First came projects with gospel artist Patrick Henderson, then appearances on the soundtrack of the TV show “Fame” and, later still, a spot on George Benson’s “Twice the Love” 1988 Warner Bros. album. In the past year, he has recorded with Cher, Richard Elliot and Spinal Tap.

Garfield knows about being on the road too. He’s served as musical director for saxman Tom Scott, singer Dianne Reeves, and guitarists Earl Klugh and George Benson, working with the latter from 1985-90.

But these days, Garfield’s focus is more on his own projects, including his quartet, which he formed a year ago, and his production company, Creatchy Productions, which has been responsible for “Recollections” and seven other albums. Only one of these--Fields’ “Other Places” (Nova Records)--is available in the United States. Garfield is seeking a U. S. distribution deal. He’s also in the pre-production stages for a debut solo album.

“I have to put a record out if I’m going to try and expand my role as a performer and bandleader,” he says.