Bandleader Goes the Distance

About 35 years ago, Bob Florence wrote an arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s classic blues tune “Straight, No Chaser.” The late critic Leonard Feather played a recording of the work for Monk in the course of doing a piece for Down Beat magazine titled “The Blindfold Test,” and the revered composer-pianist was quite pleased.

“It was crazy. It sounded so good, it made me like the song better,” Monk said in the magazine article. “I’d say it was top-notch.”

Naturally, Florence was thrilled at Monk’s response. But that was then, this is now, and Florence decided he needed to write another arrangement of the tune.

“I think Monk would like this one, too,” said the 66-year-old Florence in a chat from his Westlake Village home. “The new one is more adventurous.”

“Adventurous” is the watchword these days for Florence, who Tuesday brings his very swinging Limited Edition big band into the Moonlight Tango Cafe in Sherman Oaks. The Los Angeles native--who studied music at Los Angeles City College and has written for such notables as Sarah Vaughan, Julie Andrews, Count Basie and Vicki Carr--is constantly pushing the envelope.

“My pieces are longer; they’re developed more. I’m getting more and more comfortable with the longer form,” said Florence. “It’s like I used to run mile races, and now I’m going for two and three miles. I can write that long and not bore myself, and I do my utmost to have the same reaction from the audience. I like it when somebody hears a 10-minute chart and says, ‘Gee, I didn’t think it was that long.’ ”

Florence’s most recent album is 1995’s “With All the Bells and Whistles” (Mama Foundation Records), which featured an extended version of David Raksin’s “Laura,” plus some other goodies like such plays-on-words as “Tenors, Anyone?” and “The Fly By Knights.” The bandleader just finished recording a new album, due out in January, and some of the selections will be played at the Moonlight.

One of these will be Johnny Mandel’s “Emily,” the theme song from Arthur Hiller’s 1964 film “The Americanization of Emily.” “As with ‘Laura,’ I try to be true to the tune, take it someplace else,” he said. “I stretched it, but I didn’t hurt it.”

* Bob Florence’s Limited Edition big band plays Tuesday at the Moonlight Tango Cafe, 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. $13 cover for 7:30 p.m. show, $9 cover for 9:30 p.m., $9.95 food or drink minimum. (818) 788-2000.

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Stand-Up Guy: One of the first things you notice about Rudy Regalado’s band, Chevere, is that Regalado plays drums while on his feet, rather than sitting behind a drum set.

“I have to move, give cues,” says Regalado, “and if I stand up, it’s better. It gives me more energy.”

Regalado was born in Caracas, Venezuela, grew up in Puerto Rico and came to Los Angeles in 1971. Soon thereafter, when he joined the Latin-rock band El Chicano, he started his unusual performance stance.

Regalado and his 14-piece Chevere (pronounced Shev-ah-ray, which is Spanish for “cool,” as in hip), play at 9 p.m. Friday at the Salsa Cabaret. The venue is located at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City.

The group offers a big band sound reminiscent of such great Latin ensembles as those led by the famed Machito (Frank Grillo), where a rousing Afro-Cuban feeling is mixed with the flavors of jazz.

“I’m a Machito boy,” says Regalado, who points out that one of his pieces, “Lo Que Fue Machito,” is a tribute to the maestro. “I put together such a large band in 1982 because I felt the need to hear something different, to please me and please people.”

Regalado, whose most recent album is 1994’s “La Gloria” (Dos Coronas Records), goes outside strictly Afro-Cuban jazz for his presentations, delivering salsa, mambos and more. Many of the numbers feature vocals by either Tania Sanchez or Beto Zalvala, and there are many strong soloists in the band, among them Tim Misica and Mike Turre (saxes), Arturo Velasco (trombone) and John Fumo (trumpet). Several of Regalado’s arrangements are by bassist Oscar Meza, who is renowned for his exciting and well-rounded writing.

Chevere is known mostly in Los Angeles; it plays regularly at both the Salsa Cabaret and the House of Blues. The band has toured a bit, playing both in Canada and Japan, but not in New York. “That’s my dream,” says Regalado.

* Chevere plays at 9 p.m. Friday at the Salsa Cabaret, Sportsmen’s Lodge, 12833 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; $10 cover; (818) 755-5000.