JAZZ REVIEWS : Jack Sheldon: Fun, Funk at Pier Fest

Trumpeter/singer Jack Sheldon doesn’t exactly look like a jazz musician. A comedian, maybe, or possibly a bus driver or a bartender.

But his eyes give him away. Performing at Maxwell’s on Friday night, Sheldon had that loopy gaze, that sense of peering through space into another plane of reality that so often characterizes jazzmen at work.

Chubby, air-filled cheeks puffed up into baby-faced dimples, his arms as short and functional as a longshoreman’s, the casually dressed Sheldon went about his business with the manner of a man who has a job to be done and doesn’t mind having a little fun while he does it.

Asked by an audience member to do Jon Hendricks’ “Gimme That Wine,” he turned to his accompanying trio of Terry Trotter on piano, Jim De Julio on bass and Jimmy D on drums and whispered, “Wine and Roses.”

Another listener, recalling Sheldon’s long tenure on TV’s “Merv Griffin,” show requested Griffin’s ancient pop novelty hit, “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.” Sheldon grunted out a laugh and replied, “Well, I’ve never seen Griffin’s coconuts, but they can’t be that lovely!”

All the comedy stuff aside, Sheldon played with firm musical authority. Both his vocals and his trumpet work on an extended blues number had the bright, brassy presence of a modern-day Louis Armstrong. Despite his boppish phrasing, in fact, Sheldon’s lines often were more reminiscent of Armstrong than of more contemporary brass stylists.

Although the performance had the flaws typical of pick-up outings--those sessions in which a star soloist plays with a house rhythm section--there were times when Trotter and the father and son De Julios brought a real feeling of cohesiveness to the ensemble sound. A smooth, Latin-styled “You Stepped Out of a Dream” and an atmospheric “‘Round Midnight” (with a particularly well-crafted chorus from Jim De Julio) were good examples.

But Sheldon was clearly the star of the evening. At 60, he is still as off-the-wall eccentric as ever and, best of all, remains a first-rate jazz player.

Maxwell’s Jazz Festival in celebration of the opening of the Huntington Beach pier continues through the week, climaxing Friday and Saturday with the appearance of saxophonist Red Holloway.