JAZZ REVIEW : Not Many Special Moments From Special EFX at Catalina

What’s a group like Special EFX doing at Catalina Bar & Grill? For one thing, not drawing much of a crowd Tuesday for its opening night. For another, sounding strikingly out of context in the Southland’s primary venue for mainstream jazz.

This is a group that has been the single most played band in the history of the new adult contemporary radio format, but its credentials as a jazz act range from slim to nil. Very little of what it performed Tuesday seemed especially appropriate on a stage that has presented, just in the last few weeks, acts ranging from Ahmad Jamal to Joshua Redman.

Special EFX consists of guitarist Chieli Minucci and percussionist George Jinda with rotating groups of backup players. In this case, most of the rare bits of music that were not based on Special EFX’s typically repetitious, funk-driven rhythms were provided, not by the leaders, but by tenor saxophonist Mark Johnson, bassist Jerry Brooks, keyboardist Norman (Keys) Brown and drummer Lionel Cordew.

Johnson, who also leads his own groups, has real potential. When he wasn’t simply generating torrents of notes for their own sake, he played with the energy of a performer who has a real fire in his belly. Brown also made maximum use of his opportunities, ripping off at least two brief but impressive bop-based solos.

The leaders were less effective. Jinda puttered around a vast array of percussion instruments producing sounds that had little more than minor textural impact on the music. And Minucci’s rock ‘n’ roll heritage seeped through most of his technically adroit but musically monochromatic soloing.

With one ironic exception: When Minucci and Jinda’s backup players left the stage for the final number, the duo’s music suddenly, and surprisingly, came alive. Minucci switched to an acoustic instrument, playing rich, flamenco-tinged harmonies, and Jinda stepped out from behind his cage of instruments to add intriguingly dramatic accents. A few more moments like that, and Special EFX’s appearance at Catalina, in spirit if not in style, might make sense.

* Special EFX at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (213) 466-7000. $13 cover tonight and Sunday, $16 cover Friday and Saturday, with two-drink minimum. Special EFX performs two shows nightly, at 8:30 and 10:30.