Making the Strings Swing

Erik Friedlander has a challenge: make his cello the focus in a modern-minded jazz ensemble. The musician, a creative sort, thinks he knows how.

“I like a rougher approach than usual, more like a tenor saxophone, relating to the rhythms and harmonies that are played by saxophonists,” said Friedlander. “As a composer-improviser-bandleader, I want to see what’s possible with this instrument.”

The cellist, a 38-year-old native New Yorker with a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, appears with his band, Topaz, on Thursday at Rocco, just over the hill in Bel-Air.

There, along with alto saxophonist Andy Laster, bassist Stomu Takeishi and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, Friedlander will explore the deliciously transparent yet swinging music that makes up the group’s eponymous CD.

The cello will be front and center. “I’m up there, blowing like a horn,” said Friedlander, who cites such famed jazz cellists as Oscar Pettiford and Harry Babasin as influences. “At the same time, I can’t escape the fact that I play a stringed instrument created to play classical music, so it can be difficult in terms of volume and articulation with the bow.”

Which is why Friedlander has opted for his current instrumentation--electric bass instead of upright, alto sax instead of tenor, and arrangements that employ a great deal of space, allowing the cello to come through. “I wanted to keep the time and groove but with a different palette of colors,” he said.

“Topaz” is a new direction for Friedlander, who has been associated with more free-form-leaning musicians as saxophonist John Zorn and trumpeter Dave Douglas. “I wanted to see if I could do a funk-inspired record and give it my own mark,” said the cellist. “And when I step back and take a look, I see that the music is simple, direct. It’s a lot harder to play than it seems, and I have a whole new appreciation for simplicity.”

Friedlander turned to improvised music and jazz after establishing himself as a studio and pit musician in New York.

“I was making good money but I was miserable,” he said. “It wasn’t about what I was as a person. If you’re creative at all, you have to check out what it is you’re about. So I started to investigate other music.”

Also at Rocco: Last time trumpeter Sal Marquez played Rocco, he had a dynamic band that included a superb rhythm team, and aesthetic excitement was the name of the game. Expect no different when the veteran horn man arrives April 3 (10 p.m., no cover, no minimum). Then on April 8 (also 10 p.m., no cover), be on the lookout for Justin Morell, a fine young guitar player with plenty to say. Finally, there’s invigorating Bay Area saxophonist Dave Ellis, who plays the room April 9 (10 p.m., no cover).

BE THERE

Erik Friedlander’s Topaz plays Thursday, 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., at Rocco, 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, Bel-Air. $8 cover, no minimum. Call (310) 475-9807.

Zan Stewart writes about jazz for the Valley Edition. He can be reached at Zansky@AOL.com.

FOR PIX SLUGGED FRIEDLANDER, 8 to 12 lines