Jenkins’ Style Still Stands Out

A certified member of the jazz avant-garde since the early days of the Assn. for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the Revolutionary Ensemble in the ‘60s and ‘70s, violinist Leroy Jenkins is also a composer with an expansive musical palette.

At CalArts on Friday night, in a program that was part of the institution’s enterprising “Musical Explorations 1999,” Jenkins presented a collection of his solo pieces and three larger works, all prominently featuring his highly idiomatic violin and viola playing.

Both the solo and the ensemble pieces reflected Jenkins’ long history with the jazz avant-garde. The set of brief solo works that opened the program--whether specifically composed or not--had the feeling of free improvisation. Jenkins was a trailblazer in discovering violin techniques--rapid note flurries, sliding tones, etc.--comparable to what jazz horn players were uncovering in the ‘60s, and many of those methods, moving through often striking dissonances, surfaced in his set of brief solos.

“Off Duty Dryad,” for string quintet and dancer Felicia Norton (with choreography by Robert Kovich), applied a similar approach to the music for the larger ensemble. But here, as in the closing work, “Icho: Solitary Butterfly,” for dancer (with Norton again featured, dancing to Molissa Fenley’s choreography), prepared tape and Jenkins on electric violin, the attention focused on the dance. And the music played a largely supportive role, relegated for the most part to creating effectively abstract atmospheres.

Jenkins’ “In the Moment,” in its world premiere, was a more compelling work, in part because of the presence of trumpeter Ismael Wadada Leo Smith, also a veteran of the A.A.C.M., and, with Jenkins and Anthony Braxton, a leader of the Creative Construction Company in the ‘60s. Smith’s note-filled soloing added a parallel compatibility to the music that brought it alive.