At Home at Play
Pianist-composer David Goldblatt’s career as a soundtrack writer for film and TV is taking off. He has contributed individual pieces, called “cues,” to a number of feature films, and it’s his score we hear on “The Defenders: Choice of Evil,” currently airing on the Showtime Network.
But as much as the versatile Chicago native sees soundtrack composing as his bread and butter, he says he never wants to lose sight of his main musical interest: playing the acoustic piano.
“For me, the piano is home base,” said Goldblatt, who has been musical director for singer Diana Ross and comedian Dennis Miller and has played with saxophonist Wayne Shorter and guitarist Phil Upchurch. “It’s just a world of possibilities right there before you. If I don’t play for a few days, it doesn’t feel right.”
Goldblatt performs tonight at Chadney’s in Burbank and Saturday at Jax in Glendale. In both settings, he’s part of tenor saxophonist Benn Clatworthy’s quartet, and he’ll get a chance to immerse himself in another love: jazz improvisation.
“Jazz is in the moment,” said the musician, a West Hills resident who will turn 39 Sunday. “You’re expressing who you are. And if there’s a chemistry, it becomes a very special thing, potentially one of the highest feelings ever.”
The pianist said he shares a strong affinity with Clatworthy, the English musician with a distinctive tone and advanced harmonic approach. “Benn’s spirit really comes out when he plays,” Goldblatt said. “He’s got his own voice.”
Asked what he likes about his playing, Goldblatt emphasized feel, which he defined as “phrasing, soul, intuition, instinct, a lot of things that are not necessarily learned by practicing,” and his ability to swing. His natural gifts have led him to practice less than he might have, an aspect that has both good and bad points.
“Maybe if I’d practiced harder as a kid, I’d be farther along,” he said. “But there’s also the thing about going to the gig and not having everything under your fingers, and if you trip yourself up, then there’s silence. Jazz is like talking, you leave a space to think, just like in life.”
Goldblatt discovered the idea of “talking,” of jazz players telling a “story” in an improvisation, as a teenager listening to late-night jazz radio shows in Chicago. “I could tell what the players’ day was like, what the tone of their life was like through their instruments. They were talking to me,” he said. “That’s what I responded to first in jazz, not how hip the playing was. I was feeling these guys’ identities coming through their instruments.”
Groomed for a musical life by his mother, a jazz singer and amateur classical pianist, Goldblatt has had great luck with teachers. Among the mentors he cited was bebop giant Dizzy Gillespie, whom he met while studying at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
“I saw his playfulness and his strength, his great quest for new knowledge,” he said. “He also showed me that to play jazz, you don’t have to suffer, be miserable, that you could be a happy, personable, beautiful human being. That was great to learn at a young age.”
* David Goldblatt plays with Benn Clatworthy tonight, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., at Chadney’s, 3000 W. Olive St., Burbank. No cover, one drink minimum per show. (818) 843-5333. The group also plays Saturday, 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., at Jax, 339 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. No cover, no minimum. Call: (818) 500-1604.
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Quick Hits
* Eclectic and often electrifying guitarist Brad Rabuchin, who has been heard with the likes of Airto and Bonnie Raitt, wails on Monday, 8 p.m., at Common Grounds (9250 Reseda Blvd., Northridge; no cover, $2.50 minimum purchase; [818] 882-3666).
* For a taste of pop jazz saxophone, you might check out Sonya Jason, who drops in on Tuesday, 9 p.m., at Jax (339 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale; no cover, no minimum; [818] 500-1604).
* And for great big-band action, there’s the formidable Med Flory Swing Big Band, with Supersax and L.A. Voices, appearing on Tuesday, 8 and 10 p.m., at the Moonlight (13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; no cover, $25 minimum; [818] 788-2000).