Jazz Reviews : Keyboard, Sax Duo ‘At Home’ : Music of Kobayashi and Hommel fits right in with the relaxed atmosphere of the Fullerton cafe Steamers.

The keyboard-sax duo of Ron Kobayashi and Steve Hommel fits comfortably into the relaxed atmosphere at Steamers Cafe.

Steamers is on Commonwealth Avenue in a block that could pass for Main Street in almost any American town. Inside the cafe are high ceilings, track lighting, carpeted floors and an attractive bar where beer and wine are served as well as coffee drinks. Paintings and outdoor photography grace the walls.

Jazz, folk music and blues are featured seven nights a week, with jazz predominating. In the back corner, behind a cluster of tables, is the well-lit bandstand and an accompanying sound system, something more sophisticated than one usually finds in a coffeehouse.

Kobayashi and Hommel, who’ll be here every Thursday in September, mix the occasional jazz standard with their own classically influenced originals. Their shows are thoughtful, well-executed, perfect with a double dry cappuccino.

Kobayashi (who has a new, self-produced trio album out) favors the grand piano setting on his synthesizer. Hommel plays a variety of reed instruments from soprano sax to bass clarinet. He and Kobayashi have been playing together for two years. Both also are members of the fusion band New Edge, which also appears at Steamers.

On a recent Thursday, the duo opened with Kobayashi’s “At Home,” a distinguished sounding piece that carries hints of Erik Satie’s piano compositions. From there, it was on to Hommel’s “Mimi’s Mimosa,” which the composer gave a Middle Eastern feel with his clarinet. Hommel stuck to the clarinet for a boogie-minded “Sweet Georgia Brown” that gave Kobayashi a chance to show his offbeat styling and his sense of bluesy swing.

Hommel opened his “Out of the Woods” on bass clarinet before moving to soprano sax to solo. The tune suggested the pastoral feel of the band Oregon (which once released an album with the same name as Hommel’s song). The mood then swung in a funky direction with Hommel’s “The Rooster,” inspired by James Brown sax man Maceo Parker’s “The Chicken.” And then came a ballad, “There Is No Greater Love.”

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It may sound as though Kobayashi and Hommel were trying to cover too wide a range of music, but they managed to pull it off with surprising consistency. They put the emphasis on interplay and regardless of the tempo, they wove their sounds in complementary style. Their originals emphasize melody in a variety of rhythmic bases without syrupy pretensions. Themes are utilized as starting points for involved improvisations.

And if all that sounds to be a bit more serious than the usual coffeehouse gig, it is. Kobayashi and Hommel don’t play background music. Their tunes demand attention and get it. The near-full house at Steamers was encouragingly attentive.

Their ongoing gig at Steamers will give the musicians time to polish their sound and the opportunity to try out new material--which would give fans a chance to watch works in progress, something all too rare now that concerts rather than club dates rule the world of jazz. Catch Kobayashi and Hommel some week soon.

* Ron Kobayashi and Steve Hommel play Steamers Cafe, 130 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, Thursdays in September. 7:30 p.m. No cover. (714) 871-8800.