JAZZ REVIEW : HardBop Quintet Brings New York Edge to L.A.

In a step upward from local trios to larger groups from out of town, the Club Brasserie at the Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood hit just the right chord Tuesday with a New York band known as the HardBop Quintet.

Led by the eclectically excellent pianist Keith Saunders, this enthusiastic unit is precisely what its name implies, conjuring up images of an idiom that flourished in the 1960s and has never really gone away.

The front-line sound is one that was long associated with groups led by Art Blakey and Horace Silver: trumpet and tenor sax, playing themes in unison and occasional harmony.

Every man in the band is a writer. Bud Powell’s fascinatingly eerie “Un Poco Loco” was arranged by the drummer, Eddie Ornowski; Jerry Weldon, the tenor saxophonist, whose sound is muscularly engaging, wrote “Leroy Street.” Gordon Jenkins’ elegiac “Goodbye” is a chart by bassist Bim Strasberg, and Saunders himself contributed “99-9,” with a tenor solo that was fluid drive incarnate.

With trumpeter Joe Magnarelli (best known for his work in Toshiko Akiyoshi’s band) as a fleet and fiery partner for Weldon, this group stands out whether playing one of its own creations or bringing back half-forgotten pop songs such as “How Little We Know.” One can only hope that this auspicious debut will result in a swift return booking.

The HardBop Quintet will play at Jax in Glendale on Friday and Saturday nights, and Pedrini Music in Alhambra on Saturday afternoon.