JAZZ REVIEW : Musicians Hold Forth as Rain Holds Off

Would history repeat itself? That had to be what the promoters of the Newport Beach Jazz Festival were wondering Saturday with dark clouds thickening on the horizon the forecast calling for a chance of rain.

The first day of last year’s festival, held under the name of the Orange County Jazz Festival, was rained out.

(The KSBR Jazz Bash, a rival event scheduled outdoors Saturday at the Dana Point Resort, had already been canceled because of wet grounds and the threatening forecast; it will be rescheduled for sometime in July.)

Luckily, the rain held off. The lightest of sprinkles swirled about in the gusty breezes for a few moments midway into violinist Susie Hansen’s 3:30 p.m. set, but serious rain never materialized. The evening portion of the daylong event was held under a chilly, moonlit sky, but the cool of night couldn’t dampen the party spirits of the sizable crowd at the Hyatt Newporter, where six bands performed on two outdoor stages.

Most of the bands, with the exception of trumpeter Wallace Roney, offered the crossover style of pop-jazz.

The day’s sole mainstream act, the Fullerton College Jazz Band directed by James Linahon, arrived to find a wobbly, second stage set up on sand with no seating or music stands. Because of time considerations, it was decided not to return to campus for the stands. Instead, Fullerton’s time was used to brace the bandstand.

Nor were things perfect at the main stage. Set at the bend of a dogleg golf fairway, the stage was obstructed by short palms and other landscaping, leaving only the performers’ heads (or less) visible from most of the positions on the lawn. Sound was projected up both legs of the V-shaped viewing area and varied wildly in quality, depending on where one sat. Only immediately in front of the stage did it actually come together.

Still, the musicians held up their end of the deal. Performances from the two headliners, Roney and the Yellowjackets, marked well-executed turning points in the careers of both, with Roney exploring new, progressive material from an upcoming album, while the Yellowjackets, who’ve just finished recording their 13th album, provided a retrospective of their enduring association.

Roney, often labeled a Miles Davis clone, reflected more the spirit of the late trumpet giant than a mirror of his characteristic style. The new material, written by Roney, brother and saxophonist Antoine Roney and bassist Clarence Seay, looks for its inspiration to Davis’ mid-1960s quintet and the writing of Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock.

The period has been little explored since Davis moved on to the jazz-rock experiments of the ‘70s, though Wynton Marsalis explored its potential early in his career on his album “Black Codes From the Underground.” But what Roney is doing is fresh. His progressive music is characterized by agitated rhythms, accompaniment that often responds in contradictory fashion to improvisation and a general age-of-anxiety feel.

Led by Roney’s insistent, often probing trumpet, the yet-to-be-titled tunes explored moods seldom acknowledged by fusion or popular music. While Roney’s offbeat note placement and at-odds harmonic sense recall Davis’ sound, the trumpeter is more athletic than Davis, bringing a strong sense of personality to his play that’s often missing from the younger generation of jazz musicians.

Brother Antoine’s tenor play recalled Wayne Shorter’s work with Davis, but broke clean with strong peaks and Coltrane-like soul-baring. Pianist Geri Allen, a headliner in her own right, avoided the spare, pointed funkiness that Hancock applied to Davis’ experiments, instead favoring an approach with more flow and grace. Her solos tended to develop in circular fashion, expanding and contracting rather than developing a straight rush to dynamic climax.

Like Davis, Roney is capable of playing pretty, a talent he displayed on Jule Styne’s “Time After Time.” But from the sounds of his performance here, “pretty” will take a back seat to “serious,” and the new album, set for release in late summer, should be a groundbreaking event.

The Yellowjackets’ set, though consisting of previously released material, also had a fresh feel, thanks to its improvisational nature and little reliance on melodic hooks. Though drummer William Kennedy’s strong beats provide accessible entrance into the music, there was little that was predictable.

Instead, strong musicianship from Kennedy, bassist Jimmy Haslip, saxophonist Bob Mintzer and keyboardist Russell Ferrante propel this music beyond the fusion norm. Even when mining R & B-flavored rhythms, as they did on “Run for Your Life,” the band brings enough sizzle and twist to the performance to avoid the commonplace. This is one group that can be loved by both beat-minded fusion heads and fans of serious music.

Drummer Alphonse Mouzon’s opening set was filled with the tenacious style of percussion that has marked his play since he came to light working with Weather Report and McCoy Tyner.

Mouzon’s compositions, though, are another thing, relying too often on simple, pleasantly melodic, major-key themes. Still, Mouzon got good efforts from guitarist Grant Geissman and saxophonist Brandon Fields, which went a long way toward making the program interesting. The low point was Mouzon’s vocal on “Fly Me to the Moon.” Maybe it’s time the muscular drummer gave up singing.

Violinist Susie Hansen and saxophonist Everette Harp provided appropriate party sounds during their performances on the second stage.

Hansen’s salsa sextet, with vocalist-percussionist George Luis Balmaseda, developed a strong rhythmic attraction with tunes from Tito Puente, Count Basie and Eddie Palmieri--all decorated with Hansen’s violin lead.

Harp, who has been touring with Anita Baker for the past several months, took his unrehearsed band through a program of beat-minded originals that had the crowd dancing in front of the stage.

Though alto was his main tool, he took a nice soprano turn on “When I Think of You” and developed a glowing, electric feel on an electronic wind controller (basically a synthesizer played like a clarinet) that he used throughout the program.

The crowd had thinned only slightly by the time conguero Poncho Sanchez’s Latin jazz octet closed the show. Reviewed here earlier this year, Sanchez gave his predictably fiery performance despite the chilly temperatures, heating up with a Latin arrangement of “Yesterdays” before moving on to “Cinderella,” played with a cha-cha beat, and his own “Conguero.”

One of the best closing acts a festival could book (he has closed various shows for the Monterey, Playboy and Long Beach jazz festivals in recent years), Sanchez held the fans despite the weather and sent them home dancing.

* The Newport Jazz Festival was scheduled to conclude Sunday with performances from Chick Corea, The Rippingtons, the B Sharp Jazz Quartet, Jeff Lorber, Eric Marienthal, Rick Braun and the Long Beach State Jazz Ensemble.