Billy Mitchell’s Got It All--and Shares It

Keyboardist Billy Mitchell is a utility player, a renaissance man. Not only does he play everything from acoustic ballads to electric funk, he’s a worthy vocal accompanist and even sings a little. He seems to know every song ever written and has written a few himself.

In addition, Mitchell’s involved in jazz education, travels the globe as a sort of musical ambassador (he’ll be touring Bahrain and other Middle Eastern locales, as well as Europe this fall) and even writes opinion columns for jazz journals. In short, he does it all.

Various sides of Mitchell’s personality were aired Saturday when he played the lounge at Restaurant Kikuya in Huntington Beach. But the emphasis was on mainstream jazz as Mitchell, seated at the restaurant’s piano and working with an exceptional trio of sidemen, concentrated on putting a personal imprint on jazz standards and other familiar tunes in the kind of program perfect for an intimate lounge on a Saturday night.

Mitchell does everything with the audience in mind. Here, he let the good times roll, adding boogie-woogie touches to Thelonious Monk’s “Straight No Chaser,” answering a request to sing “When Sonny Gets Blue,” and even turning the piano over to promising teenage keyboardist Jennifer Quan, a member of the Los Angeles School of the Arts jazz ensemble that will play the Monterey Jazz Festival in September. Between numbers, he chatted with the audience, as if everyone in the packed house was a personal friend.

But Mitchell communicates best from the keyboard. His light, dancing touch shone through on “I’ll Remember April,” and he demonstrated speed and wit romping around Neal Hefti’s “Cute.” Never one to take a song too seriously, his solos were full of musical quotes from other tunes and surprising blues touches when least expected. He began “Straight No Chaser” with plenty of Monk-styled embellishments, but finished up sounding more like Fats Waller.

Mitchell’s sidemen for the night were particularly suited to the mainstream slant. Saxophonist Doug Webb, who has been heard this year with everyone from Bill Holman and Doc Severinsen to Tom Jones, was able to follow Mitchell wherever he led, coasting cleverly through a salsa-paced version of Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays” and adding jewel-like soprano tones to Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Dindi.” Webb’s especially light sound on tenor gave subtlety to his otherwise ambitiously detailed, emotion-packed play.

Also using a light touch was drummer Ralph Penland, whose credits range from Freddie Hubbard to Frank Sinatra. Penland’s brush work on “Cute,” delivered at a whisper’s volume, was amazingly supple. Bassist Dave Enos, undistracted by noisy patrons at the end of the bar, delivered neatly pitched, lyrically smart solos.

Mitchell is a game vocalist, but his singing on “Dindi” and “When Sunny Gets Blue” weren’t up to the quality of his piano work (though he did seem to warm up to his vocal tasks as the songs proceeded). But give the guy a break. Someone who does as much as Mitchell does can’t be expected to do everything at the same exceptional level.