Rich, Imaginative Music-Making From an Unlikely Combination

A piano and harmonica duo? Sounds like something you might see on a “David Letterman” show.

But that’s not exactly what turned up at Catalina Bar & Grill Tuesday night. And it’s unlikely that the “Letterman” producers would ever have the good sense to book pianist Kenny Werner and harmonica player Toots Thielemans, who opened a six-night run at the Hollywood venue with a superb set of intimate, spontaneous jazz.

This was jazz music of a sort that is rarely seen on television these days--virtually never on commercial stations--but it was music that touched the heart, music that deserves to be heard.

Werner and Thielemans may have had a loose game plan in mind when they came on stage for their opening set, but the program unfolded like an unplanned conversation between friends. A rendering of “All the Way,” for example, metamorphosed into “My Way,” followed by traces of “Young at Heart,” “Somewhere in the Night” and “One for the Road”--a touching, cameo celebration of Sinatra.

Similarly, the duo painted a rich, impressionistic rendering of several Michel Legrand tunes, including “I Will Wait for You” and an especially soulful rendering of “The Windmills of Your Mind.” The musical spirit of Bill Evans was evoked in comparable fashion via interpretations of his “Time Remembered” and “Very Early.”

If this sounds like an unusually diverse collection of tunes, it was that, and then some. Both Werner and Thielemans are drawn to unusual material, and especially to material with imaginative melodies and harmonies. They both also are players with a gift for reaching inside the emotional center of their material. Werner’s soloing consistently went to the most penetrating chordal voicings and the most passionate expression of melody. And Thielemans’ long, frequently praised capacity for articulating lush, impactful sentiments from his tonally limited instrument was on full display in virtually every note he played.

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* Toots Thielemans and Kenny Werner at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (323) 466-2210. $20 cover tonight, Saturday at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.; $25 cover Sunday at 7 and 9 p.m. Two-drink minimum.