Garage Gig

When the sounds of the city are stilled by the evening mist that often envelopes downtown Ventura, you can hear the mournful soprano saxophone of Jimmy Peck Sr.

The 41-year-old grocery store produce clerk’s venues of choice: the new downtown parking garage or the beachfront parking structure next to the Holiday Inn.

“For something so ugly, it sure puts out a beautiful ambient tone,” said the Ventura County native. “I’m not the only player. There’s trumpet players, there’s violin and harmonica players.”

But none fills the cavernous confines of the motor car monoliths with such regularity.

Peck practices almost daily--he favors the quiet third floor of the new downtown parking garage for its solitude and sonority--to keep the peace in his Ventura neighborhood.

It’s hardly a concession.

With his 9-year-old son, Jimmy Peck Jr., as inspiration, Peck’s music smooths the edges of a working day filled with shopper’s inquiries about cabbages and cauliflower.

As cool jazz caresses cold concrete, Peck’s resonant licks echo throughout the utilitarian structures, spilling through windows to reach the ears of strangers passing in the night.

The homeless pass a bottle to warm their spirits. A patrolling police officer pulls up in a black and white and winds down a window so that Peck’s mellifluous notes sweeten the drudgery of paperwork. Teenage skateboarders stop popping ollies long enough to cock their heads.

Hours of “shedding”--practicing--enable Peck “to keep my chops up to be able to stay with the cats” at nearby jazz club 66 California.

But it is when alone with the music that comes from his golden sax that Peck experiences some of his more intimate moments.

“Acoustically, this is a beautiful place to play,” he said. “Sometimes, less is more.”