Organist Earland Unleashes Rhythms of Roadhouse Funk

Charles Earland very nearly transformed the Jazz Bakery Tuesday night into something it has never quite been--a late- night juke joint.

Forget the fact that the Jazz Bakery is set up like a small theater, not a smoky room crowded with tables. Forget that the crowd was sparse, not filled to overflowing. Forget that there was no dancing.

Because none of those factors were a problem for Earland, who still managed to combine the rhythms and the energies of roadhouse funk and soul into a hard-swinging, jazz-tinged package capable of making the most serene audience move with the music.

Although he began as a saxophonist (working for a while with Jimmy McGriff), Earland has been one of the prime organists in jazz, funk and soul music since the ‘60s. His albums have ranged from burning funk with saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman and to transformations of pop tunes, to straight-ahead jazz in the company of players such as Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Henderson and Joe Henderson. At the Jazz Bakery Tuesday his music managed to touch on all those areas, while sizzling with excitement virtually from the first note he played.

Earland’s organ solos were driving, take-no-prisoners blitzkriegs of sound. Typically, he would take little repetitive riffs--often played against the basic meter of the rhythm--allow them to build to an expanding, frenzied climax, then suddenly break off the rhythm into a long, held note. The effect upon his audience, especially in numbers such as a forceful, surprisingly up-tempo romp through “Misty,” was electrifying. Despite the small size of the crowd, their reactions filled the room with shouts and whoops of encouragement. Earland knows how to reach an audience.

His players--Bob De Vos, guitar; Tom Catalano, tenor saxophone; and Greg Rockingham, drums--also did their share. De Vos, who has worked with virtually every jazz organist in the business, did a superb job of crisply filling in the gaps behind Earland, as well as stretching out into long-limbed, Jim Hall-tinged soloing. Catalano, still a very young player, performed with the appropriately heated--sometimes overheated--intensity demanded by Earland’s style. And Rockingham’s drumming was both solid and interactive, a dependable foundation for music that was rhythmically irresistible.

* The Charles Earland Quartet at the Jazz Bakery through Sunday, 3233 Helms Ave. (310) 271-9039. $20 admission tonight, Friday and Saturday, 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, 6 p.m. $18 admission tonight, Friday and Saturday, 10:15 p.m. and Sunday, 8 p.m.