Burrell Teaches Jam Session 101 at Bakery

Guitarist Kenny Burrell’s Saturday night performance at the Jazz Bakery was intended to serve as a party to applaud the release of his new album on Concord, “The Jazz Heritage All Stars.” Adding icing to the cake, the event also celebrated Burrell’s current appointment as the director of UCLA’s jazz program.

For the overflow audience, however, the performance was more than a party; it was an opportunity to witness an old-fashioned jam session. And Burrell kept the proceedings basic, straight-ahead and full of excitement with an all-star ensemble that included Sherman Ferguson, drums; Tom Ranier, piano; Roberto Miranda, bass; Herman Riley, tenor saxophone and flute; Oscar Brashear, trumpet; Garnett Brown, trombone; and Barbara Morrison and Ruth Price, vocals.

The premise of the “Jazz Heritage” group is, Burrell said, an exploration of music from every era of jazz. But, with the exception of Louis Armstrong’s “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue” at one end of the historical spectrum and Chick Corea’s “Tones for Joan’s Bones” at the other, the music--and the soloing, especially--was right down the middle of the mainstream.

Burrell’s lush, romantic sound was smooth and easygoing on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma” and Thad Jones’ lovely “A Child Is Born.” Brown offered several dark-toned solos enlivened by the gutsy soul-jazz phrasing essential to his playing. Brashear was characteristically bright and brassy with everything he touched. And Riley nearly stole the show with a rock-’em, sock-’em, get-the- crowd-cheering set of choruses on Duke Ellington’s “Cotton Tail.” In the rhythm section, the lesser-known Miranda added some striking impromptus, Ferguson was predictably dependable, and Ranier produced golden moments with his too rare solo passages.

Price, whose thoughtful balladry has taken a back seat to her work as the Bakery’s musical director, contributed a soaring, lyrical rendering of “Blame It on My Youth,” and Morrison--ever the driving blues singer--brought her rousing, Dinah Washington-style articulation to “Mood Indigo.”