JAZZ REVIEW : Keeping His Wit About Him : Steve Allen Doesn’t Share Much of His Humor With Maxwell’s Crowd, but the Fans Are More Than Satisfied With His Musical Persona

It wasn’t until nearly halfway through his opening set Sunday at Maxwell’s in Huntington Beach that Steve Allen finally had something to say.

“Nice to be here,” observed the usually gregarious musician and humorist. Then, looking around with a characteristically sly glance: “Where are we, anyhow?”

As brief as his comment was, it at least promised that Allen’s piano playing would be balanced with a reasonable sampling of his always entertaining wit.

By the time his hourlong set concluded, however, it was clear that Allen--despite an occasional bit of repartee about song titles--fully intended to stick with his musician’s persona.

For the audience, this was no problem. Whether Allen was swimming through a pea soup-thick rendition of “Misty” or bouncing across some boogie blues, his listeners--a majority of whom were his contemporaries--loved every minute.

Allen probably would be the first to acknowledge that, notwithstanding his world-class songwriting skills, the range of his musical abilities is narrow. Too often, his better qualities--a rich harmonic imagination and a gift for musical paraphrase, for example--were buried in rhapsodic runs and pedal-down blurs. Even more perplexing, as a rhythm player he generally placed his notes squarely in the center of the beat, an almost-guaranteed antidote for any real sense of swing.

Technical issues aside, Allen appeared to be enjoying himself as he launched into a completely spontaneous group of standards ranging from “Tangerine” and “I Can’t Get Started” to “My Reverie” and “Coquette.” For the most part, his enjoyment came through in the music and gave the set a tangible feeling of spirited energy.

Allen was further aided by the presence of tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb. Playing an unusually conservative role, he backed Allen’s musical meanderings, filling here, adding there. On “I Can’t Get Started” and “The Way You Look Tonight” he did considerably more, ripping off impressive excursions across the tops of the songs’ harmonies.

Bassist Jim De Julio and drummer Jimmy D were firmly supportive if, at times, somewhat bland with their backing.

Allen would have benefited from a higher-voltage rhythmic foundation.

The true story of Allen’s appearance was perhaps best revealed when--in another rare moment of whimsy--he surveyed the room, said, “And now here’s something for the younger members of the audience,” and was greeted with gales of laughter.