JAZZ : Todd Takes a Classic Approach

By most accounts, the horn--or the French horn as non-players continue to call the gracefully circular, beautifully toned piece of brass--is the most difficult of instruments to master. But not according to Richard Todd, the principal horn player of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, who will lead his jazz quartet Saturday at Orange Coast Community College in Costa Mesa.

“They’re all difficult,” counters Todd, 36, who has a pair of jazz recordings out on respected jazz historian Gunther Schuller’s GM label. In a recent phone conversation from his home in Pacific Palisades, Todd explained how working in both the classical and jazz genres makes him a better player.

“The horn’s characteristics lend themselves to classical training, and it’s certainly helped my ability to control the instrument. To play it well you have to spend years in training just like opera singers. If you’re going to turn it around and play something like jazz, you still have to take that classical training and adapt it.”

But playing jazz, he continues, has in turn sharpened his classical phrasing. “I’ve found over the years that the more I play jazz, the less I play with my eyes and the more I play with my ears. Now when I do concertos, I tend to play a lot less literal interpretation of the notes on the page and deal more with the composer’s intentions, as opposed to just re-creating the notes he’s written.”

Although exposed to classical music from “the time I was in the womb,” it wasn’t until college that Todd discovered jazz. When the USC graduate joined Leonard Slatkin’s New Orleans Symphony in 1978, he took the opportunity to study with one of the city’s recognized father figures of jazz, Ellis Marsalis.

Todd’s first jazz gigs included jam sessions with trumpeter Clark Terry and bassist Milt Hinton. “Ellis would just take me over and introduce me to them, saying ‘Hey, do you mind if the kid sits in?’ And they’d let me play.” Todd also played both classical and jazz with Ellis’ son Wynton, who was a senior in high school at the time.

In addition to his classical and jazz work, Todd’s strong, sometimes melancholy sound continues to be in heavy demand for soundtracks. Recent films he’s been heard on include “Forever Young,” “Aladdin,” “A Few Good Men” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” In addition, Todd plays on Michael Bolton’s latest recording, “Timeless,” as well as taking solo turns on pianist-vocalist Shirley Horn’s most recent recording, “Here’s to Life.”

The combo that Todd leads this weekend includes the same musicians heard on his recent “Rickter Scale” recording: pianist Billy Childs (who just released his fourth Windham Hill Jazz recording), bassist John Clayton (arranger and co-leader of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra) and drummer Ralph Penland. “We’ll do a lot of uptempo stuff,” says Todd, “and certainly a ballad or two from Johnny Mandel, who I’m particularly fond of.”

Who: The Richard Todd Quartet.

When: Saturday, Jan. 23, at 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Where: Fine Arts Recital Hall, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Ave., Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts: San Diego (I-405) Freeway to Fairview exit; south to Orange Coast College.

Wherewithal: $9.50 in advance, $12 at the door.

Where to call: (714) 432-5880.