Battle Does Her Own Thing

Kathleen Battle and a jazz quintet don’t exactly go together with the automatic felicity of, say, Joe Williams and the Count Basie Band. The distinguished soprano has received five Grammy Awards, all for appearances in strictly classical music settings, but her jazz experience until very recently has been minimal.

So what was she doing at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts Wednesday night with a jazz ensemble that included such world-class talent as saxophonist James Carter, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Christian McBride, guitarist Romero Lubambo and percussionist Cyro Baptista?

For one thing, she was following up her surprise chart-topper album of 1995, “So Many Stars”--also the title of this concert. And, no doubt, she was trying to trigger a reprise.

She had picked a first-rate group of young players. Chestnut is on the verge of breaking out as a major star. McBride, still in his mid-20s, has become everyone’s first-call bassist.

Carter’s presence was more problematic. There is no more determinedly individualistic player in jazz at the moment--and none more likely to go over the top in any given performance. This time out, he managed to keep himself in check about half the time, playing some pleasant sub-tone tenor sax during an Ellington ballad and adding some alto flute behind one of the Brazilian songs.

But there were many times when his zealous enthusiasm took over, and he drove his way through the proceedings with the take-no-prisoners manner of someone trying to make his reputation in a battle of the bands.

Carter’s ebullience aside, there were more than a few moments when the unusual blending of performers produced attractive results.

Battle’s undeniably gorgeous voice was well-suited to an opening segment of spirituals. The swooping phrases and soaring high notes intrinsic to her view of this kind of singing worked effectively with the simple melodies and fundamental harmonies of the spiritual form. She also was appealing in some children’s songs, narrowing her focus into small but intense readings of such numbers as “Para Ninar.”

A group of Ellington tunes started less promisingly: Battle couldn’t find the correct starting notes for “Prelude to a Kiss.” But she was better with “Come Sunday” and a grooving rendition of “Just Squeeze Me” as she received propulsive support from McBride’s rocking bass accompaniment.

Perhaps predictably, her finest readings were of light classical pieces such as Villa-Lobos “Melodia Sentimental” and Obrador’s “Del Cabello Mas Sutil,” performed with gentle, Brazilian-tinged backing. For all the flexibility of her voice, her interpretive range fit far more comfortably into classically framed pieces than anything else.

Battle, by virtue of her starring position and stunning voice, and Carter, via his sheer aggressive musical energy, dominated center stage for much of the program. But some of the evening’s most absorbing contributions came in the smallest segments: a sweetly thoughtful rendering of “Jesus Loves Me” by Chestnut; McBride and Chestnut’s heated romp through “Caravan”; and a brief, rhythmic demonstration of the African-Brazilian stringed instrument, the berimbau, by Baptista.

Does Battle have a future as a crossover artist? Yes, if she continues to do what she did at Cerritos, which was to not really cross over at all, but simply to place her essential style and natural skills in nonclassical settings.