Ortega’s Sax Appeal Is Hot Stuff Abroad

Like many American jazz musicians, saxman Anthony Ortega is a virtual unknown in his own country, but he is treated like a king overseas.

Ortega, 64, is enjoying a career revival in Europe, based on live performances and recordings in France, including a new European release titled “Anthony Ortega on Evidence,” which may soon be available in the United States.

“It’s just a different world over there,” explained Ortega, relaxing in the living room of the modest Encinitas home he shares with his wife, vibraphonist Mona Orbeck Ortega. “You’re very well accepted, artistically speaking.”

Until 1990, when Hat Hut Records in Switzerland re-released music from two of his 1960s recordings on a CD titled “New Dance!,” Ortega had resigned himself to sliding peacefully into obscurity.

“It wasn’t hopeless, but what I felt was it was over as far as any national recognition, traveling or recording,” said Ortega, a quiet man not given to touting his substantial talents. “I figured I’d retire, cool it, kind of let the world go by.”

Now, thanks to French connections, he is busier than ever.

Two weeks ago, Ortega returned from a French tour to support his “Evidence” release. He played small clubs and venues holding thousands and was paid up to $1,500 a night--10 times what he makes in a typical San Diego club.

He performed live on a French television talk show and was the subject of spreads in the November issues of the French magazines Jazz and Jazz Man, which went so far as to call him “legendary.” Two more releases are due next year: a collection of duos and solos on the French label, Serene, and a live recording made in 1991 at the Sorgue jazz festival, to be released on Celp, another French label.

During the 1960s, Ortega had a squawking progressive sound, but he has mellowed with age. His live shows blend the old, wild, rebellious stuff with new material written by Ortega and his wife that is more grounded in regular rhythms and structured chord changes.

But that doesn’t keep Ortega from letting his horn slither over smooth, fast cascades of notes on cuts such as “Tyler” and “Gone Again” on the new “Evidence” CD, stretching both songs to more than nine minutes. Ortega punctuates extended, rapid-fire lines of improvisation with staccato honks and bleats that spur the music relentlessly ahead.

Ortega has an original, highly emotional instrumental voice on burning, up-tempo numbers, but also on slow, introspective pieces such as “Norge,” a ballad written by his wife in homage to her native Norway. He showcases his flute on the CD’s final cut, the Mel Waldron tune “Warm Canto,” a spare mood piece that finds Ortega tracing lilting, tropical melodies with a delicate vibrato.

Ortega’s career began during the early 1950s with a stint in Lionel Hampton’s band and later included brief associations with Dizzy Gillespie and James Moody. Ortega is gearing up for a tour of European jazz festivals next spring and summer. In the meantime, there is renewed interest in his music on the home front. Earlier this month, he was called to Los Angeles to improvise frenetic, psycho sax lines for the sound track of the upcoming movie “Blood In, Blood Out.”

San Diego jazz band Tobacco Road celebrates its 10th anniversary and the release of its fourth self-produced recording, “Home and Arranged,” from 7 to 9 p.m. today at Reidy O’Neil’s in the Gaslamp Quarter downtown at 939 4th Ave.

Founded by pianist Sue Palmer and reeds player Eric Hybertsen, the traditional jazz group has grown to six members as it has built a following for live shows at several clubs in the Gaslamp.

On the new release, the group tackles classics, including a pair of George and Ira Gershwin tunes, along with several originals, mostly by trumpeter Phil Shopoff. But this collection doesn’t generate anywhere near the excitement the band stirs up live.

Without an audience providing applause and shouts, the group is exposed as a competent crew of journeymen who never quite catalyze into nirvana.

The uneven sound balance, which over-emphasizes bass and vocals at the expense of other instruments, only highlights the group’s difficulty at locking into a swinging groove. Drums, bass and horns are often an annoying hair apart where important accents fall.

Preston Coleman is the group’s centerpiece. The 70something bassist anchors the bottom end with his solid, sure old-style plunking and lends raspy vocals to several songs. It’s worth checking out Tobacco Road tonight just to catch Coleman.

RIFFS: San Diego flutist Holly Hofmann plays a release party for her new recording, “Duo Personality” at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Horton Grand Hotel in downtown San Diego. . . .

Murray Davison and the North County All-Stars play Jazz by the Way in San Marcos (at San Marcos Boulevard and Rancho Santa Fe Road) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Last Friday, Davison made one of his more unusual appearances. He and a few band members supplied jazz while a late jazz fan’s ashes were scattered at sea off Point Loma. . . .

New York pianist Don Grolnick--whose new recording of mostly original music, “Nighttown,” includes guest appearances by the Brecker brothers, Joe Lovano and other jazz notables--will be interviewed on KSDS-FM at 2 p.m. Friday.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

Remembering Billy Strayhorn

Billy Strayhorn wrote such signature Duke Ellington big band tunes as “Lush Life” and “Take the A Train,” arranged countless jazz standards for the band and occasionally played piano with the Duke’s orchestra. In effect, until he died in 1967, Strayhorn was Ellington’s alter ego, and his contribution to the development of big band jazz during the 1940s and 1950s was significant.

In celebration of what would have been Strayhorn’s 77th birthday last Sunday, KSDS-FM will feature his music Saturday afternoon from 1 to 2 on the “Portrait in Jazz” program. Deejay Joe Kocherhans will give a brief biographical sketch of Strayhorn, but most of the hour will be devoted to his music.