Trio Packs Potent Punch With ‘Lulu’

Great post be-bop tunes from the 1960s have never sounded quite like they do on “More News for Lulu,” a new CD from a far-out trio that includes UC San Diego professor George Lewis on trombone.

“The idea was to transform the hard-bop idiom into what we’re were doing today, adding collective improvisation and the things we do that they didn’t do,” said Lewis of his collaboration with guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist John Zorn.

Of course, 1960s jazz has improvisation too, plenty of it. But the difference here is that all three players improvise simultaneously, instead of one at a time.

“The structure of the tune is always evident, but you stretch it as far as you can without having it break,” Lewis said.

“More News for Lulu” is the follow-up to last year’s “News for Lulu.” Both were recorded in 1989, but the first was largely a studio project, while the latest is all live, taped in France. Both are on Hat Hut Records, a Swiss label.

The new release includes 15 tunes and is a vital reworking of some lesser-known hard bop gems by musicians including Sonny Clark, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Redd and Hank Mobley.

“We used to call that group the lost generation,” Lewis said, explaining that many of the best 1960s jazzmen lived hard, burned out early and have not been given full credit for their contributions. Clark died of a heart attack in 1963 at age 31.

“More News for Lulu” is improvisation at its far-flung best. Lewis, Zorn and Frisell obviously have a special kind of chemistry.

Frisell opens Redd’s “Melanie” with some spacey solo guitar. He employs a lonely, electric country-Western-style tone for some improvising that roams through jazz, classical and country territory. After Zorn and Lewis come in and the three stir up a crazy dust storm together, the droning, throbbing sound of their instruments gradually rides off into the sunset.

On Clark’s “Blue Minor II” the three musicians collaborate to state the melody, then break into group improvisation. Zorn’s and Lewis’ horns interweave tight lines around each other, while Frisell adds all manner of exotic textures, including chords, single-note strings and electronic burps and hiccups.

It’s impressive how far out Lewis, Zorn and Frisell take these tunes within a short time frame. All cuts come in under seven minutes, and some are under four, yet all pack a powerful emotional punch.

Even the usually hard-to-impress Lewis can’t deny the appeal of this music. Shortly after the recordings were made, he decided he was finished with this type of live, improvisational jazz.

“Now I’m starting to think we should do it again because it certainly was enjoyable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lewis is busy with new work, and with his teaching duties at UCSD. Last week, he was preparing a lecture that he called a “multidimensional analysis of John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme.”’ Lewis planned to illustrate how Coltrane built the song on structures from African oral composition. And last night, Lewis was slated to join avant-garde jazz saxman Anthony Braxton in a performance with a chamber orchestra at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay winds up another year of big ticket sales with Thursday’s show featuring Hiroshima.

As usual, saxophonist Kenny G was the most popular performer in the series, selling out six shows, a total of 7,200 seats at $35 each. The saxophonist now has 26 sell-outs at Humphreys, beginning in 1987. While ticket prices have doubled since then, Kenny G commands three to four times the fee, according to Humphrey’s promoter Kenny Weissberg. Weissberg wouldn’t name the fee, but said it is “astronomical.” He received $15,000 to play a single set in a duo for KIFM’s 16th Anniversary party last year.

Weissberg said the Bobby Caldwell/Kilauea bill was this year’s sleeper, a sell-out by two artists who are relatively new on the light-jazz scene.

“The most surprising on the down side was (guitarist) Earl Klugh,” Weissberg said. “He did the worst he’s ever done.” Klugh sold 1,274 of a possible 2,400 seats for his two shows.

Other light-jazz or jazz-related acts who sold out at Humphreys this year were David Sanborn, Manhattan Transfer, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Grover Washington, Jr., Ottmar Liebert and Pat Metheny, who will play a single show Wednesday night.

RIFFS: San Diego singer-pianist A.J. Croce, whose music has jazz leanings, is in New Orleans this month recording his debut album at Dr. John’s Ultra Sonic Studios, with some high-powered help. Producing is Greg Cohen, best known as Tom Waits’ bass player. Engineering is Al Schmitt, who has also engineered Manhattan Transfer and Natalie Cole. . . .

KPBS-TV is wrapping up its final tapings of the year for the “Club Date” jazz program. The last shows to be recorded this year are last Saturday’s studio performance by the Shorty Rogers All-Stars and Saturday’s taping of an Art Blakey tribute group including Javon Jackson, Cedar Walton and Louis Hayes. The new shows will air next year. . . .

Singer Bobby Caldwell’s Oct. 11 show at the Culbertson Winery in Temecula is sold out. . . .

Guitarist Art Johnson has been most visible lately as leader of the Saturday afternoon jams at Espresso Literati in La Jolla. But this week Johnson is recording his new electric trio Mercury, which also includes drummer Danny Campbell and bassist Charlie Chadwick, for a self-produced CD project. The music is all Johnson’s originals.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

Celebrating Monk

Enigmatic yet warmly humorous, pianist Thelonious Monk had an impact on jazz through many generations to follow. His teetering, creative style featured odd notes emphasized as exclamation points, and Monk was also known for creative chordal voicings and rhythmic textures--always playing with ample swing.

Monk died in 1982. On Saturday, KSDS-FM (88.3) celebrates what would have been his 75th birthday by broadcasting several rare Monk recordings. At 11 a.m., Monk is featured as part of a 1959 big-band date. From 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., deejay Joe Kocherhans profiles Monk on the “Portraits in Jazz” program. At 5, it’s Monk’s quintet, also featuring Thad Jones, in a 1960 show from the Blackhawk in San Francisco. And at 8, to close out a day of Monk, the station will air a recording of a 1967 date in Paris.

KSDS has a limited reception area due to its low power, but you can get it over most San Diego County cable television systems. A separate line off the main cable line is connected directly to your FM receiver.