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JAZZ REVIEW : The Real Buddy Collette Stands Up

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

SEAL BEACH--It’s hard to escape Buddy Collette these days. A host of businesses, including Bank of America, Chevrolet and AT&T;, have been using the distinguished Collette countenance to lend respectability to their TV advertising (he is, for instance, the chap with the sax encouraging schoolchildren from an AT&T; computer screen).

But the real Buddy Collette is the one to seek out--the longtime West Coast jazz scene leader who played Wednesday night at Spaghettini. In those commercials, he’s appearing on someone else’s terms. From the bandstand, he speaks on his own.

There was nothing rowdy or too ambitious about his first set in the restaurant’s noisy lounge. He worked confidently, moving smoothly if not aggressively through a set of standards from the likes of Richard Rodgers and Duke Ellington and some original material as well.

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He opened on flute, contributing light, dancing lines to his own “Hunt and Peck.” He then picked up the alto sax for “In a Mellotone” and switched to clarinet for “Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise.” He kept the tunes moving and avoided extremes, sailing easily around the middle range of each instrument in fine lyrical style.

The clarinet produced the most satisfying sound. His tone was smooth as old flannel, weighted occasionally with a bit of breath. Lines seemed to form effortlessly as he played, turning from one to another as easily as one would flip pages in a book.

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His backing trio--pianist Marty Harris, bassist Richard Simon and drummer Harold Mason--was a like-minded section of veterans. Harris provided the excitement with fleet, be-bop inspired lines and emphatic blues chording. Simon (who backed singer Annie Ross in L.A. last week) soloed with the kind of melodicism that almost encourages an audience to hum along. Mason stayed tastefully reserved, though there was volume and complexity in his exchanges with the other players.

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In their solos, Harris and Simon seemed intent on referencing as many tunes as possible. During “In a Mellotone,” for example, Simon dropped in “If I Only Had a Brain” from “The Wizard of Oz” and, later, “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.” Harris responded by quoting “(Every Little Breeze Seems to Whisper) Louise.” During “My Romance,” Harris mentioned “Ol’ Man River” and “Old Devil Moon,” then “Anything Goes” and “Straight, No Chaser.” Simon answered with “Frosty the Snowman” and his third reference in as many numbers to Nat Adderley’s “Work Song.”

These high jinks went largely unnoticed by the talkative crowd enjoying happy hour. But then the audience turned over and a more attentive group came in to listen as Collette again moved easily between alto, clarinet and flute.

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