Friendship the Foundation for Jazz Foursome

What makes a jazz band stay together?

Peek beneath the surface of an ensemble that’s lasted a year or two without personnel changes and you’ll probably find the same qualities that make any good relationship work: common interests and values, mutual respect and affection.

That’s certainly the case with the Los Angeles Jazz Quartet, a modern be-bop-and-beyond group that comprises Larry Koonse (guitar), Chuck Manning (saxes), Darek Oleszkiewicz (bass) and Kevin Tullius (drums), and which plays Saturday at Bjlauzezs in Sherman Oaks. The cooperative unit, one of the most individual and intriguing bands in Southern California, operates pretty much like a happy family.

The quartet’s story starts with friendship.

“Chuck, Kevin and I have known each other for about 20 years,” said Koonse, a Pasadena native who played with the pair at that city’s now-defunct Le Omelette restaurant in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. “It was a great place for young musicians to hang out and learn the tradition of jazz. And when we each met Darek in the mid-’80s, after he arrived here from Poland, we became friends immediately.”

The foursome--whose members have collectively played with such stellar jazz artists as sax men Joe Lovano and Bob Sheppard and pianists Alan Broadbent and Cecilia Coleman--discovered they had a lot of similar values, Koonse said.

These included a love for the music of bebop giant Charlie Parker as well as the belief that an acoustic unit playing original music has a place in the contemporary jazz landscape. They found that the most productive and mutually beneficial way to share those values was to band together, which they did in November 1993.

The band has had a vital and interesting sound at Jax, the Jazz Bakery and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as on their debut CD, “Astarte”. But Koonse said listeners who only know the L.A. Jazz Quartet from the 1994 album will be in for a pleasant surprise when they hear the group now.

“We are really starting to evolve a band sound, which I don’t think our first CD represented--but which you can hear on our new as-yet-untitled album, to be released in June,” said Koonse.

Koonse, who along with Oleszkiewicz teaches at Cal Arts in Valencia, says the quartet stretches its aesthetic, offering pieces that blend aspects of classical music and jazz along with those that are right out of the jazz mainstream.

“We go for a fresh sound, influenced by people like Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett but not imitative, mixing sounds that are adventurous with those that are more visceral,” he said. “Some of the music is challenging, [but] overall it’s actually pretty accessible.”

Koonse said he’s committed to making the group a permanent entity. “For me, with my lifestyle of having a family and teaching and juggling a lot of things, this band is like eating,” he said. “It’s a way for me to emotionally express where I’m coming from in a place where I can trust everybody.”

* The Los Angeles Jazz Quartet plays Saturday, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., at Bjlauzezs, 14502 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. $5 cover without dinner. Information: (818) 789-4583.

Helping Out: Jack Sheldon’s big band, singer Sue Raney, the Four Freshmen and the Page Cavanaugh Trio play a benefit at 8 p.m. Monday for guitar great Barney Kessel, who suffered a stroke two years ago. The concert is at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel, 21560 Oxnard St., Woodland Hills. Tickets, $25-$125. (213) 682-4101.

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The Washington Preparatory High School Jazz Ensemble is one of Los Angeles’ best student bands. It has been selected to perform at the Hollywood Bowl June 16 as part of the Playboy Jazz Festival. That’s the upside. The downside is that vandals broke into the group’s school band room last year and destroyed almost all the ensemble’s instruments. To help buy new horns, etc., the group plays at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bjlauzezs. Cover is $5.