JAZZ REVIEW : Jimmy McGriff Dips Into the Standards

There’s never any doubt about where the melody is in Jimmy McGriff’s music.

The veteran jazz organist, who opened a two-night stand Friday at Birdland West in Long Beach, is a fervent melodist, and a strong believer in staying in touch with the sources of his colorful improvisations.

Although he is best known as a world-class blues advocate, he included several standards among his opening set--”Our Love Is Here to Stay,” “Over the Rainbow” and “Willow Weep for Me” among them.

Bits and snatches of original melody dipped in and out of his soloing, always providing a solid point of reference.

But McGriff is too firmly rooted in the blues ever to play an entire evening without a rich blossoming of funk-tinged phrasing and body-moving rhythms.

Typically, his work on several classic jazz organ numbers included state-of-the-art blues blowing.

Halfway through the program, the back-up band, which had seemed a bit stiff at the start, finally found McGriff’s groove. Tenor saxophonist Clifford Solomon was particularly impressive with a lovely, Ben Webster-like reading of “Georgia on My Mind,” and guitarist Bob Devos played a series of carefully articulated, briskly swinging choruses.

On drums, the estimable Larance Marable was, as always, a pillar of rhythmic strength.