Jazz Review : Stimulating Set From Watson, Horizon Band

Ensemble playing in jazz doesn’t have the cachet that it once did, not in these days of upfront soloists with rhythm sections. Bobby Watson and Horizon, who opened at the Jazz Bakery Wednesday night in one of the venue’s rare, full-week bookings, represent a welcome exception.

Although Watson’s alto saxophone was clearly Horizon’s ignition point, the well-rehearsed and symbiotically interactive ensemble provided plenty of sparks of their own. Watching, connecting, making eye contact with one another, exchanging smiles of enthusiasm as they shared a riff or made an unexpected change of emphasis, the players--Terell Stafford on trumpet, Edward Simon on piano, Essiet Okon Essiet on bass and Victor Lewis on drums--communicated an audience-enveloping joy in the sheer process of making music.

Much of the set was drawn from Horizon’s current Columbia album, “Midwest Shuffle.” It was probing, adventurous jazz, sprinkled with traces of hard bop, free improvisation and, surprisingly, the cool melodism of the Art Farmer/ Benny Golson groups. But Horizon’s sudden shifts of meter, their outbursts of feral rhythms tempered by soaring, lyrical lines and spontaneous riffing, were uniquely original.

Watson’s soloing was equally compelling. Initially precise, it was almost geometric in its careful melodic delineation. As the evening continued--and especially during a stunning, nonstop improvisation--a wilder, more passionate element emerged, ripping aside the earlier precision with accelerating, Dionysian energies. At 41, he has become an eminently watchable player, and an artist whose music is still evolving.

Watson wisely abandoned the microphones almost immediately. The Jazz Bakery is one of several rooms with appropriate acoustics for unamplified jazz. Too bad that more musicians don’t avail themselves of the opportunity to perform with the direct and easy openness of natural sound.

* Bobby Watson and Horizon at the Jazz Bakery, 3221 Hutchinson Ave., Culver City. (310) 271-9039. $20 admission. Doors open at 8 p.m., set begins at 8:30 p.m., through Saturday.