Enthusiastic Basie Band, Clooney Find Solid Groove

With Rosemary Clooney and the Count Basie Orchestra headlining the first entry in the Lexus Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl series Wednesday night, nostalgia could easily have taken over. Clooney, after all, has just hit 70, and the Basie orchestra has been performing as a ghost band since its leader’s death more than a decade ago.

But that’s not the way it worked out in a program in which nostalgia took a back seat to timeless music-making. The Basie aggregation, under the direction of trombonist Grover Mitchell, has become a solid, well-integrated unit, playing with a flair and an enthusiasm recalling some of the finer units conducted by Basie himself.

Appropriately, it was the band itself that stole the set. Although there was superior soloing from, among others, saxophonists Kenneth Hing, John Kelson and Bradford Leali and trumpeter Robert Ojeda, it was the blend of the saxophone section (with Kelson playing lead) and the powerful, burry texture of the brass that best recalled the Basie sound.

“Corner Pocket,” “Way Out Basie” and “In a Mellow Tone” were all executed with the kind of driving big-band shout that can only be produced by a collection of musicians who understand how to mingle their individual qualities into a group expression. And the final number, “Just Basie,” with its hard-driving but difficult passages, revealed an ensemble fully prepared to carry the Basie legacy into the future.

To her credit, Clooney also appeared ready to deal with the present and the future rather than the past. There were no references to “Come On-A My House” or “Hey There.” Instead, she concentrated on a lovely collection of standards, occasionally picking lesser-used items, framing them all in her clear, gorgeously lyrical sound.

“Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry,” for example, received a reading tinged with sweet sadness; “Just in Time” grooved with the rhythmic accompaniment of the Basie orchestra; and she found magic in the poignant, not often-heard lyrics of “Thanks for the Memory.” As a final bonus, Clooney offered a salute to another singer who enjoyed working in the Basie milieu, Frank Sinatra, singing “In the Wee Small Hours” with a sense of cosmic regret that would surely have earned a nod of approval from Ol’ Blue Eyes himself.

The show opened with a parade through the audience by the Dirty Dozen and a rousing, New Orleans-style set from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.