Variations on a Tune
Jazz, like gold, is where you find it and on Monday nights the prospects for a strike can be rather slim. But Monday night, strollers along Coast Highway in Laguna Beach hit pay dirt as the sounds of pianist Tom Ranier and his trio, improvising on Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “No More Blues” and other jazz standards, drifted out into the evening air.
The music came from Odessa Supper Club, a comfortable restaurant just up the hill from Main Beach. No stranger to jazz--last year pianist Les Czimber played there on weekends--Odessa recently started booking jazz seven nights a week, bringing some of Southern California’s top musicians in to entertain its dinner crowd.
The bandstand is against one wall in the back of the long room, framed by faux columns and next to a slate fireplace. The low ceilings and hardwood floors make for direct, live sound and the softly lit room provides short rows of linen-covered tables in front of the musicians and along the opposite wall for those who don’t want to be so close.
An intimate experience, with generally good sight lines (a column or two in the middle of the room obscures the view from just a couple seats) is guaranteed.
The booking of Brea-based pianist-clarinetist Ranier bodes well for the quality of musicians booked here in August. The Cal State Fullerton product who has gone on to become a first-call studio musician, accompanist and jazz man demonstrated his smart, narrative ways on a number of standards at the Odessa’s baby grand, then switched to clarinet for a moody version of “Body and Soul.”
Throughout the evening’s first set, Ranier showed why he is such an engaging player. His solos made perfect sense, following logically from one line to the next, building in dynamic tension with a repeated phrase here and there for special emphasis.
He built to a grand close on “No More Blues” that fit well with the room’s distinguished airs. He hinted at the melody to “Someday My Prince Will Come” while playing the title tune of his 1997 album, “In the Still of the Night.” He glided like a ballroom dancer on Frank Rosolino’s “Blue Daniel.” Every note seemed to find its perfect place.
His sound from a table in front of the bandstand was well-balanced against that of acoustic bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Gordon Peeke, who each showed equal parts inventiveness and touch as they played. Peeke especially displayed a sense of presence, playing neither too loudly or too predictably, working inside the music to give it rhythmic life.
Ranier’s ability to generate flow on piano carried over to his clarinet playing. He used a round, ripe tone and moved easily through his solo, recalling at times the piano-less trio work of clarinetist/saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre. Though best known as a pianist, Ranier sounds to be one of the more sensitive clarinetists on the scene (he’ll soon go into the studio to record with fellow clarinetist Buddy DeFranco).
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Odessa’s lineup (booked by Merle Kreibich, wife of drummer Paul Kreibich) includes many of the same performers that play Restaurant Kikuya in Huntington Beach or Steamers Cafe in Fullerton. Upcoming shows include pianist Joe Massimino’s trio on Saturday, singer Stephanie Haynes (Monday), guitarist Ron Eschete (Tuesday), saxophonist Ray Pizzi (Aug. 20) and flutist Holly Hofmann’s trio (Aug. 23). The restaurant has an upstairs club-dance floor for special events such as Poncho Sanchez on Thursday and trumpeter Bobby Rodriguez’s Latin band on Aug. 19. Many shows are free; cover charges from $10 to $20 apply to some of the higher-profile shows.
While it remains to be seen what the room sounds like on a crowded weekend evening with the kitchen working at full tilt and the bar (near the entrance) full of tipplers, Odessa is a welcome addition to the South County music scene.
* Information: (949) 376-8792.