Jazz Review : McLean’s Lessons in Be-Bop

Jackie McLean is a be-bop dinosaur. One of the few surviving horn players who can claim a direct lineage to Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Miles Davis, he continues, at 62, to be among the most identifiably personal voices in jazz.

McLean’s opening night appearance at Catalina Bar & Grill on Tuesday, however, did not always display the alto saxophonist at his finest. The brightly cutting, almost abrasive wail that is his trademark sound was fully evident, as were the sometimes frenetic phrasing and animated articulation that are equally essential to his style. But also present, occasionally to distraction, was a tendency to push his pitch far too close to the edge of sharpness, and a few too many musical lapses of concentration.

Still, at his best, as he was in a surging romp through “Night in Tunisia,” McLean can bring the be-bop era to life. His mid-’60s flirtation with avant-garde jazz and his more recent involvement with educational matters seemed, at least on this evening, to have been set aside in favor of classic, straight-ahead blowing.

The accompanying Cedar Walton Trio, with David Williams on bass and Billy Higgins on piano, had some good and bad moments. Walton was superb, spinning out gorgeous be-bop lines with a remarkably keen sense of tone and balance. Williams added several superlative solo passages, and Higgins demonstrated, as he has throughout the years, a capacity to effortlessly move from masterful section playing to timbrally fascinating soloing.

Less appealing was an intermittent failure by Williams and Higgins to agree upon rhythmic emphasis, with Higgins pushing the top, and Williams tending toward the bottom of the beat. Fortunately, it was a minor annoyance in an otherwise engaging evening.

* Jackie McLean and the Cedar Walton Trio at Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. (213) 466-2210. Two sets each night, 8:30 and 10:30, through Sunday.