JAZZ REVIEW : Cymbal of the Past: Harris Back at Studio

It was as if nothing had changed.

There was drummer Chiz Harris, sitting at his traps in front of the Studio Cafe’s window, rattling away behind a be-bop saxophone solo just as he had for some 14 years, smiling at his band mate’s flurry of notes while dropping tom-tom bombs, snare accents and cymbal hits.

Harris’ return to the Studio on Wednesday was a predictable homecoming as the drummer’s quartet ran through a list of songs by giants--Monk, Miles, Bird--in a first set that made you wonder why the Studio ever let this guy get away.

From 1978 to 1992, Harris and company held down the Saturday-evening slot here, filling the surf-side dive with straight-ahead jazz. Harris was bumped in 1992 in favor of more contemporary sounds.

Harris has been busy since, touring with Jerry Lewis--he just returned from five weeks on the road with the comedian--and playing local dates in Los Angeles.

With the Studio’s usual Wednesday night leader, saxophonist Eric Marienthal, out on tour for a couple months, Harris was called on to fill one of the blank dates.

Good move. Harris, sitting behind a bass drum decorated with the famous caricature of Lewis, seemed right at home, and many of his old fans turned up to pay their respects. Not surprisingly, the band delivered, just as it had for 14 years.

Harris brought back Isla Eckinger, the Swiss bassist who spends part of each year in his native country, wedged in with his upright behind pianist Joe Lettieri. Out front was well-traveled saxophonist Lou Ciotti, the only change in the lineup of yore, replacing Jay Migliori.

The group opened with Miles Davis’ “Four,” played at an up-tempo pace with long improvisation sections for the soloists. Ciotti took the first turn, playing several choruses in a heated, pushy manner.

The tenor player kept to the middle range of his instrument, scooting along in a way that allowed Harris to embellish his rhythms with snare pops, bass-drum outbursts and explosions on his cymbals.

Ciotti’s hard drive gave way to Lettieri’s smooth approach, as the keyboardist strung long lines of narrative together between brief sections of chordal play.

Lettieri and Ciotti provided interesting melodic contrasts: Both play with well-defined lyricism, but the saxophonist’s attack had more of an edge while the keyboardist relied more on grace to get his point across.

Harris’ solo contained the same, persistent drive that made his playing so rewarding when he was a regular here. His immediately identifiable style--rumbling across the tom-toms before breaking out in rat-a-tat-tat snare phrases--swung in a way that Gene Krupa might have admired. And his smooth method of sliding back into the rhythm as the band takes up the call was polished and full of flare.

The drummer’s best playing came during “Yardbird Suite” as he traded measures with Ciotti. Little was repeated as Harris strung one outstanding break after another into a considered whole, opening with a stirring roll up and down the toms, then dancing between snare and toms, bursting with well-spaced hits directly on the beat, breaking it up with bass drum pounds, then fading away gradually on the snare.

Still, Eckinger (he also plays trombone in other settings) was the evening’s most impressive soloist, using the full range of his unamplified instrument to turn “Blue Monk” into a fleet, light-footed workout.

The Studio will bring Harris back on May 18.