Gregory Tardy Blazes With Youthful Energy

You have to give a young jazz saxophonist credit for effort, at least, when he wraps up a set with consecutive versions of “Body and Soul” and “Au Privave”--tunes closely associated with saxophone masters Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker.

And Gregory Tardy, opening a four-night run at the Jazz Bakery Wednesday night, deserves even more acknowledgment given that he was battling jet lag and working for the first time with a new rhythm section--the Billy Childs Trio.

Tardy shared the bill with veteran trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, both artists working with the Childs group. Bridgewater, a fine, bop-oriented stylist who has done sterling work with the Max Roach group for decades, contributed an opening set of his well-crafted improvisations.

But the focus of the evening clearly centered on the 32-year-old Tardy. Viewed by many as one of the potentially important members of the post-Young Lions ‘90s generation, he is finally beginning to move past his prior influences and open his own springs of individuality.

His playing, despite his fatigue and the occasionally uncertain communication with the other players, was filled with heat and passion. Although he is fully capable of generating a strong, blues-founded swing feeling in his lines, he more often built improvisations that were filled with blurred, overlapping musical images.

Cruising through “Body and Soul” like a visual Impressionist, he painted his spontaneous lines with the kind of color and light that transcended precise articulation. With “Au Privave,” a buoyant blues line, he rode the waves of rhythm, skimming the surface of the changes with a kind of vocalized flow of sound.

It’s a risky approach to improvising, one that clearly flows from John Coltrane and, to some extent, from Rashaan Roland Kirk. But it’s well worth hearing, especially when Tardy is still in his formative stages and opening his musical envelope with a youthful passion and energy.

* Gregory Tardy and Cecil Bridgewater with the Billy Childs Trio at the Jazz Bakery through Saturday. 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. (310) 271-9039. $18 admission tonight and Saturday at 8 and 9:30 p.m.