Favorite Son Nathan East Returns in All-Star Quartet

All-star groups tend to be casual, unrehearsed and temporary mergers that don’t produce music worthy of the big names involved. Another drawback is that these bands are usually dominated by one or two players whose careers and creativity are in peak form, with the rest of the crew simply hitching up their wagons.

A new, noteworthy exception, though, is Fourplay, the high-powered quartet that plays the Spreckels Theatre in downtown San Diego on Friday night. The group features keyboard player Bob James, guitarist Lee Ritenour, drummer Harvey Mason and San Diego native son Nathan East on bass. East says they will stick together as a permanent group, recording and touring once a year.

Something about this blend of talents brings out the best in all four. Probably because all four are equals, this outing is very much a team effort that emphasizes sensitive ensemble work. Ritenour, for example, has seldom played with more restraint and raw emotional lyricism.

All four artists are certifiable heavies. James and Ritenour have been at the top of the pop-jazz heap for years, as well as contributing to scores of albums by others. Mason is a first-call studio musician.

At 36, East is the youngest face in Fourplay, but his star is on the rise. He is best known as a regular in Eric Clapton’s band but is increasingly busy on other musical fronts.

Fourplay is rapidly becoming the most visible of these. The group’s self-titled debut recording, released last September, last week beat out Grover Washington Jr.’s 1982 “Winelight” as the longest-standing No. 1 album on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart, with 27 weeks on top.

With Clapton, East rocks, but with Fourplay, he gets a chance to show what he can really do with a bass. He’s a subtle player whose smooth, sliding fretwork moves the music forward without egotistical posturing. In East hand’s, the bass doubles as both a bottom-end rhythmic catalyst and a deep-voiced counterpoint to the melodies played by Ritenour and James.

Though Fourplay presents a more challenging musical context than Clapton, East likes the variety.

“Both situations are totally enjoyable to perform in,” he said. “They attract two different audiences. I think there is freedom in Clapton’s music, but I think the situation with Fourplay allows me much more visibility.”

And, says East, he is one musician who doesn’t like pigeon-holes such as “pop,” “rock” or “jazz.”

“I consider myself a musician first,” he said. “I never have been a big fan of labels because it all has a thread that goes through, all good music. I like to bring the different elements to different musics. One of the biggest challenges for me is to bring the reciprocal in, to introduce jazz or funk to rock, and in jazz or R&B;, introduce more rock.”

East, who got into music during the 1960s, said, “I definitely focused on all different kinds of musicians. There was everything from Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears to Tower of Power, Earth Wind & Fire, then Cream and Hendrix and Santana.

“But I also listened heavily to the CTI (label) jazz -- Ron Carter, Ray Brown with Quincy Jones. So I had eclectic tastes.”

Raised in an extremely musical East San Diego family among seven kids, East attended Crawford High School during the school’s golden years of music. Saxophonist Hollis Gentry, who has teamed with Larry Carlton and David Benoit in recent months, was East’s musical running mate at Crawford. So was Carl Evans Jr., today a member of the nationally successful San Diego pop jazz band Fattburger. East also earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1978 at UC San Diego under the watchful eyes of faculty members Cecil Lytle and Bert Turetzky.

East says he has been happy to wear many masks as a sideman, and while he has no immediate plans to go solo, he and younger brother Marcel are gradually laying down an album together in their studio at the home they share in Studio City.

When East can squeeze in a day or two, that is. Fourplay’s tour ends here Friday, and Saturday morning East is due in Dallas to open a tour with Clapton. It won’t, however, be stopping in San Diego.

Fourplay plays the Spreckels at 7:30 Friday night. Tickets are $22.50, available through Ticketmaster (278-TIXS).

Fresh from sharing a stage two weeks ago with red hot saxman Bobby Watson during the Tri-C Jazz Festival in Cleveland, San Diego flutist Holly Hofmann will make her first live recording Friday and Saturday at the Horton Grand Hotel downtown.

Hofmann has invited fluegelhorn player Bobby Shew along for the ride.

“He has been a regular performer for the past 2 1/2 years at the Horton Grand,” Hofmann said. “Each time, we kept thinking how nice flute and fluegelhorn sound together, and we kept referring back in history to a time when Hubert Laws and Freddie Hubbard were collaborating.”

Hofmann and Shew are both contributing new material. Hofmann’s regular bandmates--pianist Mike Wofford, drummer Sherman Ferguson and bassist Bob Magnusson--will also be on hand, and Wofford and Magnusson have each tossed in a new song. But Hofmann promises the evenings will be “very spontaneous,” so don’t be surprised if a few standards surface.

Hofmann and Shew will receive a welcomed boost from KPBS-TV. While Shew is in town, the station plans to videotape this band for its “Club Date” jazz series.

RIFFS: Sax legend Benny Carter, going strong at 84, plays the Jazz Note in Pacific Beach this Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. . . . Top San Diego pop-jazz band Fattburger, now working on a new recording, plays the Catamaran Resort Hotel on Wednesday night at 8. “Best of Fattburger,” a compilation of music from the group’s four Enigma albums, will be released April 27.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: PETER SPRAGUE TRIBUTE TO PAT METHENY

Del Mar guitarist Peter Sprague has long been an admirer of Pat Metheny’s music. Metheny’s guitar combines a jazzman’s polished technique with a soft, melodic sensibility, influenced by his love of Brazilian music, to produce music that appeals to both casual listeners and serious jazz aficionados. This Wednesday night at 8 at the Horton Grand Hotel downtown, Sprague, also a devotee of Rio sounds, will team with his brother Tripp on flute and Bob Magnusson on bass for an evening of Metheny’s music.