Elevator Music a la Stefan Dickerson : POP AND JAZZ REVIEWS

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong Saturday when a pianist named Stefan Dickerson met a seven-piece band at the Jazz Bakery.

You could blame the mood of excessive hype set up by a record company, complete with a disc jockey cracking jokes and throwing CDs at the audience. You could blame the sound balance, in which everyone seemed to be upstaging someone else: The piano too loud for the muted trumpet, the drummer too loud for everyone.

Basically, though, the fault came from the top, in the person of Dickerson. A schooled musician who has worked in classical and chamber groups, he equates floridity with beauty and tinkling runs with lusciousness.

His compositions lacked the necessary variety of tempos and moods; except for “Morning View,” featuring Doug Webb on soprano sax, there were sound-alikes, with Sal Marquez trying vainly to create a Miles Davis mood via his mute while Dickerson provided waterfall effects. This could be called elevator music, except that it doesn’t give you a lift.

A percussionist, Richie Garcia, held in his left hand small objects from which he produced no audible sound. Ramon Stagnaro on guitar and Dave Carpenter on electric and upright base completed this often funk-oriented group. It is not hard to imagine Dickerson finding a spot in the contemporary jazz listings, since his music may develop a commercial appeal to compensate for its lamentable shortage of swinging creativity.