Jazzman Believes Music Transcends Categories

Caught between two worlds, keyboard player Bill Cantos says he doesn’t have any qualms about recording for both Christian and mass-market labels. “The Bill Cantos Project,” his new solo debut recording, is from Tennessee-based Brentwood Music, a Christian label, but Cantos believes his jazz transcends categories.

“I hope that people would see it as just something that has a spiritual aspect to it, that people would be able to enjoy it for the music and also draw from the themes,” said Cantos, who returns tonight to San Diego, his hometown, as co-headliner of Gospel Jazz ‘92, a concert at the Horizon International Sports Center.

“Everyone who makes music is influenced by what their personal beliefs are and they put that into their music somehow. Ask jazz musicians from Coltrane on down, they would have told you those beliefs are a part of who they are.”

Sharing the bill with Cantos tonight are saxophonist Justo Almario, fluegelhorn player Tony Guerrero, and Sibling Revelry, a vocal trio consisting of Cantos and his sisters. All of the musicians are born-again Christians, and Cantos, Guerrero and Almario all have recording careers that cross between Christian and mass markets.

For Cantos, 29, whose solo profile is on the rise after years of songwriting and sideman duties behind Diane Schuur, Kevyn Lettau, Kirk Whalum and a host of other artists, there was no conscious decision to make his solo recording debut on a Christian label.

“The concept originally came from Brentwood,” Cantos said. “It’s kind of a specialty project. The company came to me with the idea of an album that had some originals but also jazz and jazz fusion versions of hymns and worship songs. This allowed me to take some of these songs and put them in a different light.

“ ‘You Are My Hiding Place’ has a beautiful melody. It always reminded me of something Michel Legrand would write, and I said, ‘What if Bill Evans were playing?’ ”

Using an approach reminiscent of Evans, the lyrical, understated jazz pianist who died in 1980, Cantos turns the song into a slow, meditative mood piece expressive of a range of feelings.

Other cuts are “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” “My Jesus, I Love Thee” and “More Love to Thee,” and there are two originals by Cantos plus a third he co-wrote with Robert Cartwright, who is married to Cantos’ sister, Rita.

Along with playing keyboards, Cantos sings three songs.

“I love to do both, but I don’t think I’d be able to choose one or the other,” said Cantos, who was born in San Diego and attended Crawford High School, known as a haven for budding jazz talents. “They satisfy me in different ways. I played before I sang, but my mother was a singer, my sisters both sang--my mother did Starlight (the San Diego theater) for many years.”

Cantos’ recording may be on a Christian label, but the music has universal appeal. Mostly, it’s the light, bright brand of pop-jazz you hear on stations like KiFM (98.1) in San Diego, with Cantos ably accompanied by Almario and a host of talented guests including drummer/percussionist Michael Shapiro (Lettau’s husband) and bassist John Leftwich, another former San Diegan.

Cantos grew up in San Diego and returned for two years after completing a master’s in jazz studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 1986. He was a fixture in several San Diego clubs.

“I was kind of a utility man,” he said. “I subbed with everyone, Fattburger, Hollis Gentry, every band that ever needed a sub.”

He moved to Los Angeles in 1988 and for a time earned piles of pocket change playing on commercials for Wendy’s, McDonald’s, General Electric and other mainstream American companies. But for the moment, he is concentrating on his own music, and select side dates, such as backing Schuur and Lettau.

Cantos plays on Lettau’s new release, “Simple Life,” and he co-wrote two songs. Cantos and Lettau make an especially good musical match because they share a longstanding love of Brazilian music.

“When I was 10, my sister had Sergio Mendes records lying around the house and I fell in love with them,” Cantos said. “Even before I really discovered jazz I was really influenced by Brazilian music.”

That music is also common ground between Cantos and Almario, who was born in Colombia, and whose new release, “Heritage,” is on Blue Moon, a mainstream, commercial label.

Almario was a protege of percussionist Mongo Santamaria, touring with him during the early 1970s, and later played with Charles Mingus, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Ayers and Frank Foster, contributing sax to soundtracks for the movies “The Mambo Kings,” “Dirty Dancing” and “Trading Places.”

Guerrero is the most calculatedly commercial of tonight’s three headliners, and this has paid off with several commercially successful releases since he made his solo recording debut with “Tiara” in 1988.

“Another Day, Another Dream,” Guerrero’s newest recording, released last year, is lushly produced, and while Guerrero doesn’t display a strong original voice, he is a technically skilled player equally comfortable with slow, acoustic ballads, funky electric up-tempo tunes or on a slow Dixie-style blues duo with bassist Brian Bromberg.

Guerrero concentrates on fluegelhorn, but he also plays trumpet, and he puts a muted, Miles-like sound to good use on the ballad “The Secret Garden.”

Cantos played on both Almario’s and Guerrero’s new releases, and he produced several cuts on Guerrero’s, so the three players have a longstanding association that should produce good results in tonight’s live collaboration.

Sibling Revelry puts Cantos with his sisters Rita Cantos Cartwright, who is also producing tonight’s show, and Roxanne Cantos Fulkerson. Both are San Diegans. Cartwright sings with the San Diego Opera and Fulkerson is both a choreographer and vocalist.

Although being narrowly categorized as a Christian performer could limit Cantos’ ability to get exposure, he is not concerned about trying to launch what he hopes will be a career with wide appeal from a Christian platform.

“It shakes up people’s expectations a little,” he said. “It allows me to be a little more specific about thanking the ones who gave us all the music in the first place. I just flew over the Grand Canyon, and there’s got to be something more than just us scurrying around trying to get to our gigs. For me as a musician, I need from time to time to acknowledge the one who gave us the music in the first place. And people may think the concept is a little strange, but it’s my roots.”

* Tonight’s show will feature the musicians in various combinations with a backup band. Cantos, Almario and Guerrero will play selections from their new solo releases, as well as collaborating with each other on a variety of tunes. The Horizon Sports Center is at 5331 Mt. Alifan Drive in San Diego, off Genesee Avenue. Tickets are $7.50, available at the door, or from Erini Productions. Call 495-2510 for more information.