JAZZ REVIEW : An Imaginative, Eclectic Set by Don Byron

Don Byron didn’t show up with his klezmer band Tuesday night at Catalina Bar & Grill, and it was probably all for the best. Granted the novelty--and the publicity value--of an African American clarinetist making occasional forays into Jewish traditional music, Byron’s finest work has always been associated with an expansion of the discourse for contemporary jazz clarinet.

The opening set was a perfect example of his far-ranging imagination. Casually noodling while the members of his quartet found their places, Byron knocked out an arpeggio- drenched, unaccompanied version of “The Sound of Music.” Joined by the other players, he then dipped into a piece filled with Buddy DeFranco-like be-bop lines tinged with the rhythms of Thelonious Monk. An Ornette Coleman composition came next, followed by a suite-styled rendering of a lengthy, metrically disjunct original titled “Sex Work.”

Throughout his solos, Byron tossed in a wildly diverse array of quotes from Dizzy Gillespie, from pop tunes, from children’s melodies, in a series of improvisations that unfolded like streams of consciousness rather than sequences of jazz variations. One of Byron’s great strengths is his capacity to get past the sometimes overcooked technical potential of the clarinet and into the richer, more demanding act of jazz as communication. Not nearly as well-known as he should be--despite his klezmer interludes--Byron has the wit, style and originality to bring new perspectives to his instrument.

He was aided by a first-rate group of musicians--Uri Caine on piano, David Gilmore on guitar, Kenny Davis on bass and Marvin (Smitty) Smith (from the “Tonight Show” band) on drums. Smith, in particular, seemed attuned to Byron’s amalgam of offbeat humor and over-the-top improvising. In his final solo spot, he mixed grunts, wails, shouts and screams into a roaring blaze of percussion. Caine brought a driving swing, Davis was rock-solid, even in the most unusual metric passages, and Gilmore’s versatility provided ideal support for Byron’s eclectic musical probings.

* The Don Byron Quintet at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (213) 466-2210. $12 cover tonight, Friday and Sunday, $15 cover Saturday, with two-drink minimum. Byron performs two shows nightly, at 8:30 and 10:30.