Jazz : Cafe Noir Brews an Eclectic Mix

Cafe Noir is a stylistically indefinable, musically irresistible quintet from Texas. It also is a brilliant reminder of the fact that creative music is being made beyond the country’s bicoastal media centers--music that too often is overlooked by the sometimes myopic perspective of the entertainment establishment.

The all-acoustic ensemble’s program at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall on Saturday night, the second of two sold-out performances, was a remarkable display of imaginative, cutting-edge eclecticism and virtuosity. This is a group that can shift, in the blink of an eye, from a loping jazz groove to a gypsy dance to a rolling Texas swing. In guitarist Jason Bucklin and violinist-clarinetist Gale Hess it possesses two instrumental stars, and in vocalist Randy Erwin it has one of the most versatile, far-ranging voices this side of Bobby McFerrin.

At its core, Cafe Noir’s music has a European flavor, comfortably blending the elegant swing of the Hot Club of France and the passionate energies of Hungarian gypsy music with the precision of classical technique. Whenever the music threatened to fall into a familiar pattern, the group--visibly enjoying the sudden twists and turns of its repertoire--would simply take off in another unexpected direction.

The repertoire included the work of Bud Powell and Stravinsky, the group’s own appealing compositions and a rendering of “I’m Back in the Saddle, Again,” complete with Erwin’s astonishing yodeling, that would have done Gene Autry proud.

Hess, who played accordion as well as her two primary instruments, performed her violin numbers with a ravishing sound and an improvisational grace reminiscent of Stephane Grappelli. Appropriately, Bucklin’s guitar lines sizzled with the rhythmic drive (and the obvious musical inspiration) of Django Reinhardt. And Erwin, the composer of some of the evening’s more unusual works--”The Orange King,” “Follow the Money” and “Battle of the Five and Dime” among them--simply has to be heard to be believed.

Cafe Noir, which has won awards from the Dallas Observer for “Best Jazz Group,” “Best World Beat Group” and “Best Experimental/Avant Garde Group,” has several albums available on the Carpe Diem label. The first, self-titled release, was chosen top album of the year by “All Things Considered.”

It remains to be seen, however, whether this assemblage of gifted artists will be able to reach beyond Texas to receive a larger portion of the national recognition they so clearly deserve.