Solo Guitarist Makes Jazz Standards His Own : Joe Pass, 64, courts adventure and humor within the context of tradition.

A man and his guitar. A head full of standards. A penchant for wisecracks and self-effacing virtuosity.

The elements all added up to a deceptively casual, magical musical evening at Ojai’s Wheeler Hot Springs on Sunday night, when Joe Pass came to town for a solo show.

Unpretentious to a fault, Pass tends to smirk at his good press and claims to just be doing his job, traveling light on his feet. But the 64-year-old guitarist’s reputation is virtually unchallenged in the highly specialized field of solo jazz guitar.

Whereas solo piano is a well-entrenched setting in jazz, the technical demands and limitations of working alone as a guitarist have daunted most would-be performers. Since almost accidentally thrown, teeth chattering, into a solo endeavor by producer Norman Granz in the early ‘70s, Pass has developed an uncanny knack for self-reliance.

It’s not that Pass shies away from interaction with other players. He has released two group albums in the year since he last appeared at Wheeler--”Live at Yoshi’s” (Pablo) and “My Song” (Telarc).

In solo mode, Pass draws on a judicious and ever-shifting mix of techniques--single-line runs, bass lines, chordal fragments, double stops--pieced together into a seamless mosaic. It’s all part of a palette grounded in a fairly conservative jazz tradition, but always courting adventure and humor within the context.

If anything, Pass gives conservatism a very good name. He knows the standards--”All the Things You Are,” “My Shining Hour,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” etc.--inside and out. Still, he treats them like familiar treasures worthy of polishing up and re-examining.

The secret to Pass’ success as a soloist has to do with his ability to marshal all his technical forces and have access to some implicit internal voice that connects the dots of his piecework. However sparse the individual parts of a solo rendition, some subtle thread of cohesion runs through it.

Sunday night, Pass arrived in a chocolate-brown suit, and he was in an infectiously good mood. The warmth of the room didn’t hurt. Wheeler has turned into one of the finer venues for jazz in Southern California, especially in dinner-concert programs where all attention is on the stage.

Pass tilts his guitar neck at a 45-degree angle to his body and squints or furrows his brow according to the emotional lay of his licks. He sits still during the more reflective, rubato passages, and then starts swaying and thumping his heel--especially resonant on the Wheeler stage--when the rhythms get steadier.

On a good night such as this, Pass combines sophistication with intimacy, blending advanced jazz concepts with a witty, easygoing stage persona.

“There are so many beautiful melodies, sometimes we get ahold of them and destroy them,” Pass said in his rambling between-song banter, then shrugged off his mini-musicological message. “I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ll be talking to you from time to time, like an airline pilot.”

More than once, Pass, whose set list is between his ears, fumbled between songs, asking for requests. Someone suggested “Jive at Five,” and the guitarist was off, picking out the kinetic melody, offering running commentary. “I haven’t played this in 30 years. You’re really making me work.”

He followed it with the languid lyricism of “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” a romantic glowworm of a song, capped off with a quote from “O Sole Mio.” “Ain’t Misbehavin” transcended its cool and relaxed surface, as spidery runs and inventive harmonic detours spiced up an old theme.

Later, he told the story of how fans would gawk at him from the front row of his gigs and request John Coltrane’s challenging tune, “Giant Steps.” The version of “Giant Steps” that Pass then proceeded to play was less an exercise in chest-thumping hyper-technique than an elegant medium swing version.

At one point during a song, he stopped after a frilly arpeggio to assure the crowd that “I like that.” It was that kind of living-room ambience that made the show fly.

To end each of the two sets, Pass invited up jazz pianist and Wheeler regular Milcho Leviev to play duets. The pair conversed improvisationally and wove and darted nimbly. Pass seemed to welcome the good company.

For all its seemingly loose informality, Pass’ performance amounted to a brush with jazz greatness. The guitarist was in good humor and full of naturally flowing ideas.

HOMETOWN BE-BOP

Hippity boppity alto saxophonist Richie Cole proudly hails from Trenton, N.J., just like another jazz lover in the tri-counties--Joseppi Scozzaro, owner-operator-and resident accordionist of Joseppi’s in Santa Barbara.

After the hometown connection was made a few years back, the irrepressible Cole has stopped over at Joseppi’s several times in the past few years. He’ll return for a gig there Saturday. Jersey boys stick together.

Cole has proved himself over the last quarter decade in the jazz trenches to be a reliable player with a leaning toward be-boppish facility and puckish humor. His new album, “Profile,” on Heads Up records, is his first studio date in four years and finds the saxophonist in fine, lucid form.

See him in the flesh, amid the bricks and oyster plates at Joseppi’s.

Details

* WHAT: Richie Cole, jazz alto saxophonist, master of be-bop

* WHEN: Saturday, 9:30 p.m.

* WHERE: Joseppi’s, 434 State St., Santa Barbara, 962-5516

* COST: $10 cover charge