JAZZ REVIEW : Long Beach Fest Carries On Party Tradition

The Long Beach Jazz Festival makes no artistic pretensions. Held at the city’s scenic Rainbow Lagoon Park, it’s an outdoor jazz party, pure and simple.

Saturday’s edition of the eighth annual event continued that good-time tradition. The nearly 10 hours of music included two soul-fired saxophonists, three vocalists with an ear for the popular, a respected R&B-styled; sax-organ team, and a contemporary quartet led by a television personality.

But even this predictable lineup had its musical moments. Though few and often far between, the times when artistic expression and feel-good sounds coexisted gave cause for both serious jazz fans and party animals to celebrate.

Best at satisfying these cross-purposes was the team of saxophonist Hank Crawford and organist Jimmy McGriff. Their quartet mixed blues of all tempos with the occasional ballad as McGriff’s crisp organ chords and bass-pedal walks framed cries and pleading lines from Crawford’s alto.

Surprisingly, vocalist Diane Schuur, leading an acoustic trio, was also able to transcend the festival’s party atmosphere. Sounding in better voice than in other recent performances, Schuur also made better use of the piano, contributing well-rounded, if not ambitious, improvisations.

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The rest of the day’s program was little more than party soundtrack. Najee’s closing set got the biggest response from a crowd estimated at 5,000. Though the saxophonist showed impressive chops, especially on flute during a beat-minded version of John Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice,” his material was overly weighted toward back-beat and hip-hop affectations. Likewise, tenor saxophonist Richard Elliot played tediously deliberate themes against accessible rhythms, shamelessly milking the crowd with long-held tones sometimes played from his knees.

Vocalist Marlena Shaw, getting sterling backing from an acoustic quartet that included pianist Dwight Dickerson, saxophonist Herman Riley, bassist Andy Simpkins and drummer Sherman Ferguson, played to the audience with spoken, risque monologues that led comically into such standards as “You’ve Changed.” Singer Carl Anderson relied too much on volume to make an impression and numbers from Anderson’s keyboardist, Freddie Ravel, often upstaged the vocalist’s uneven performance.

Bassist and airborne traffic reporter Jennifer York’s quartet mixed upbeat originals with contemporary versions of “Scrapple From the Apple” and “Night In Tunisia.” Though York is the most visible presence here, band-mates Janine Del Arte on saxophone, Alexandra Caselli on keyboards and Suzanne Morissette on drums add much to the group’s legitimacy.