JAZZ REVIEW : Pickup Team Scores on Fielder’s Choice

Necessity is the mother of invention, and no one knows it better than musicians who play improvisational music. Case in point: saxophonist Dale Fielder’s appearance Saturday at Spaghettini.

Fielder, leader of one of the busiest combos on the Los Angeles scene, usually keeps a consistent stable of musicians playing for him. But the flu kept pianist Greg Kurstin at home, and circumstances kept regular bassist Bill Markus away. While Fielder was able to find a suitable replacement for Markus (the excellent bassist Trevor Ware) no one was forthcoming to fill the keyboard spot.

No problem. Fielder’s trumpeter, the aptly named Dan Bagasoul, put his horn aside to sit at the piano. Though Bagasoul would be the first to admit he’s no Thelonious Monk or Bill Evans (who is?), he filled in competently and even added some quirky keyboard touches of his own.

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The result was a solid pair of sets that found the musicians coming together on a variety of standards.

Added attraction was Fielder’s wife, vocalist Lorraine Fielder, who sang “When Sonny Gets Blue” and a medley of “Days of Wine and Roses” and “Night and Day.”

She’s the kind of vocalist who likes to move right in on the mike while wrapping her voice around every syllable in a style that, at times, recalls Sarah Vaughn. Her voice moved slowly around the tones, circling their pitch and exaggerating the rounder vowel sound. She worked in a narrow range and was at her best when scatting rhythmically in response to one of the instrumental soloists.

Her husband, one of Southern California’s young hard-bop proponents, tempered his attack but not his ambition in deference to the lounge’s reserved atmosphere. His best work came on alto, on which he delivered stirringly melodic improvisations sprinkled with references from other numbers and the occasional rhythmically inclined passage.

At one point during “Have You Met Miss Jones?,” he strung together a series of variations on a line from “Mona Lisa” before ending his solo with a bit of Duke Ellington’s “Rockin’ in Rhythm.” On Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Once I Loved,” he played with some of the pedaling softness that Stan Getz once pulled from his tenor.

Fielder’s tenor work, though less satisfying that his alto playing, still manages to be intelligent and sharply drawn. He maneuvered the larger horn through his solo on Horace Silver’s “Silver’s Serenade” with warmth and a show of playfulness before switching back to alto for the theme.

With Lorraine Fielder taking his place at the keyboard, Bagasoul took to his trumpet for “Silver’s Serenade,” using a mute for the theme statement, then playing open horn on his finely cut solo. He switched to fluegelhorn for Monk’s “Blue Monk,” and applied the kind of heat to his playing not usually associated with the softer toned instrument.

He hit each note squarely and stated his ideas in complete, nearly literate phrases. At one point, he stormed through a long, ambitious line that was impressive for both its wit and display of breath.

Bassist Ware provided firm support and melodic touches as he soloed. His rhythm section mate, drummer Ocie Davis III toned down his attack in consideration of the room, but still added a lot of color with brush-on-snare work and cymbal shadings.

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This was a low-key gig for the usually upbeat Fielder and company. Seen earlier this month at the Club Brasserie in West Hollywood’s Bel Age Hotel, the saxophonist and his combo, with the added attraction of Philadelphia-based guitarist Eric Johnson, took the roof off the place. Saturday’s show at Spaghettini showed that Fielder, as well as Bagasoul, can rise to the occasion, even when the occasion calls for them to be low-key.

And as a show of their dedication to the calling, Fielder and his crew packed their cases after finishing here and moved north to 5th St. Dick’s in L.A.’s Crenshaw neighborhood, where they’ve played the 1 to 4 a.m. slot for several months. Why sleep when you can play jazz?