Blending Past and Present Into B Sharp Focus : Jazz: All members of the quartet write wide-ranging material that they believe pushes the group into a new realm.

Don’t let the name the B Sharp Jazz Quartet deceive you. The moniker may conjure up images of a band like the Modern Jazz Quartet, its members looking splendid in sleek tuxedos, their music cool and to the point, but those images would be off the mark.

This band offers sharp compositions--from straight-ahead to avant-garde to hip-hop--that go where you least expect them.

“We’re not mainstream, we’re not traditional, we’re not contemporary,” says B Sharp’s leader, drummer Herb Graham Jr., who feels that his band’s wide-ranging approach takes the group beyond the jazz realm.

“What we play is alternative improvisational music,” says Graham. “What we are doing with this quartet is taking the music from the past, and embracing that, and also playing the music from the future, and embracing that .”

And while much of the talk these days about young jazz groups from Los Angeles is centered around the formidable Black/Note Quintet, B Sharp also deserves its share of respect.

The band’s fine self-titled debut album (Review, F3) on Mama Foundation Records is generating both critical acclaim and nationwide airplay. Its scintillating performances, mostly in Southern California, have attracted a loyal coterie of fans. The group plays Friday at the Hyatt Newporter in Newport Beach.

One way B Sharp gets its distinctive sound is by offering original material almost exclusively. To this end, as Art Blakey did for decades, Graham demands that the members of the group write, and the band’s CD documents the players’ varying styles.

On B Sharp’s album, Graham’s “ ‘T’ Thyme” has a Latin groove, while saxophonist Randall Willis’ “Almost Next” is a post-bop blues that swings. “Analytical Cubism,” from bassist Reginald Carson, sways between an edgy yet foot-tapping section and one that’s riotously fast, and pianist Eliot Douglass’ “Ballad” is simple and pretty.

“We wanted a record that had all the flavors, from hard core to funky, from thesofter to the abstract,” says Graham. “We wanted to give everybody something to listen to.”

And there’s lots more waiting to be recorded, says Doug Evans, general manager of the nonprofit Mama Foundation, which signed B Sharp to a deal for one album with an option for another.

“There’s at least enough material to make four more albums,” says Evans. “Iwas very impressed with the quality of the compositions.”

Graham says the origins of the band’s name can be traced to the zesty tune “D Flat Waltz,” which keyboardist Joe Zawinul wrote in the ‘70s for his band, Weather Report. That name sparked him to come up with the “B Sharp” handle.

“The words seemed to describe not only a musical group, but expressed something about a kind of lifestyle vibe,” he says. “It sounded elegant, and I wanted the words Jazz Quartet in there, in case we’re together for 40 years, like the Modern Jazz Quartet.”

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The seeds for B Sharp were planted when Graham formed a guitar-bass-drums trio in 1988. But despite many gigs in the world of rock and pop--Graham has played with such bands as the Supremes, the Watts Prophets and Queen Latifah--he’d always wanted to form an acoustic jazz quartet.

That goal came alive when he met Willis, a saxophone soloist who is both intrepid and commanding, on an alternative-rock gig in 1988 and the pair started playing duos in the drummer’s loft apartment.

Graham met Douglass on a tour of Japan with the Supremes in 1989 and invited him to join B Sharp. The group was complete when Carson, a former baritone saxophonist who turned to bass in his early 20s--joined up.

The group made its debut in May, 1990, after rehearsing for a month or two at the World Stage, the Los Angeles music showcase co-founded by drummer Billy Higgins and poet Kamau Da’aood.

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In the subsequent four years, B Sharp’s intriguing, diverse style was heard at such L.A-area venues as 5th Street Dick’s, the Atlas Bar & Grill, the Jazz Bakery and the UCLA Jazz Festival, Jazz at Drew, and the International Association of Jazz Appreciation’s tribute to Billy Higgins.

The group’s performances have made an impact on both musicians and fans.

“I was always impressed by their presentation, by how tight they were,” says Willie Jones III, drummer for Black/Note, who has been listening to B Sharp since its inception.

“I thought they were terrific, one of the best young bands I’ve heard,” says Darlene Chan, associate producer of the Playboy Jazz Festival, commenting on B Sharp’s set at a pre-Playboy concert she booked in June at Santa Monica College. “You could tell they worked together, that they’re a unit. It’s not like, ‘Hey, let’s just go play this gig.’ Their repertoire is very thought out.”

The band faces a new challenge this month when it takes its music to the East Coast for a series of dates next month. Graham sees these performances not only as an opportunity to gain a new audience, but also as a way of proving to fans and players in the East that West Coast bands like his, and Black/Note, are first-rate ensembles.

“We’re playing just as intense as anybody,” says Graham. “So we’re going to walk right into the teeth of the lion and see what’s up. We don’t care if we get cheered or booed.”

Graham thinks B Sharp should be included on non-jazz concerts, too. In this way, he feels, that jazz--and, specifically, B Sharp--can overcome what he says is a compartmentalization that limits the band’s exposure and, as a result, album sales.

“I want B Sharp to play on some alternative-music concerts, say with the Eurythmics or Stone Temple Pilots,” he says. “If you let people listen to jazz as much as you let them listen to other music, jazz would be just as popular.”

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And the fact that B Sharp’s members have played with many non-jazz bands also helps to give the group wider appeal, Graham says. “When we play for young people and they ask, ‘Well, who have you played with?’ and we name Queen Latifah or Freestyle Fellowship, they go, ‘Oh, cool’ and they listen to the jazz music we play,” he says.

“Whereas if I say I’ve played with James Moody or Don Cherry, they’re gonna go, ‘Huh?’ So if they know the people we’ve played with, it brings them in.”

* The B Sharp Jazz Quartet and keyboardist Bobby Lyle play Friday at the Hyatt Newporter, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach. 7:30 p.m. $15. (714) 729-1234.