JAZZ REVIEW : Rhythmic Feast From Coleman’s Five Elements

“We don’t exactly play dinner music,” said Steve Coleman as he looked out at his audience Monday night at the start of a four-day run at Catalina.

And he was right about that. Coleman’s Five Elements group--one of the important units in the Brooklyn-based avant-garde collective, M-Base--played a set of music that was far too demanding to serve as distant accompaniment for dining. Overflowing with traces of funk, be-bop, hip-hop, reggae and straight-ahead jazz, Coleman’s pieces were compelling amalgams of styles from a multiplicity of sources.

Performing at the center of a rhythmic whirlwind, Coleman played a series of rapid-fire alto saxophone solos. His always impressive high-speed technique soared to especially remarkable heights on an up-tempo number that dipped in and out of “Cherokee,” John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. David Gilmore’s guitar solos and Andy Milne’s piano work were equally effective, supported in sterling fashion by a constantly shifting flow of rhythm from bassist Reggie Washington and drummer Gene Lake.

Coleman is one of the few young player-composers whose music possesses the rare quality of appealing to mainstream and contemporary jazz followers, as well as to sophisticated pop music fans.