Not Enough Tuck, a Little Too Much Patti

The married couple of Tuck Andress and Patti Cathcart--better known as Tuck & Patti--are, as a team, one of the most consistently entertaining musical acts of the past decade. Guitarist and singer, performing together without benefit of any other assistance, they have created an instantly recognizable, marvelously appealing personal style.

But the key words are “as a team.” And on Thursday, in the opening set of a four-night run at Catalina Bar & Grill, their togetherness was a bit too often interrupted by what might have been billed as “Patti with Tuck.” In other words, Patti as upfront soloist with Tuck playing a background role as accompanist.

The dividing line between paired creativity and individual spotlighting is, of course, hard to define. And, for two of the numbers on the program, Patti left the stage completely, allowing Tuck to do his own showcase performance. Nor was there much to criticize in the quality of Patti’s singing in the numbers--”Love Warrior” was a prime example--in which she was most distinctly in the foreground.

The problem was that they simply went on far too long, with Patti using Tuck’s playing as the foundation for repetitious verbal vamping around the theme of love. As the set continued, one or two other pieces fell into similar patterns, diluting the high-quality interactive performances that were present in other parts of the program.

In those moments, Tuck & Patti were at their best: a lovely rendering of Clifford Brown’s “Joy Spring” (despite the fact that Michael Stillman’s after-the-fact lyrics seemed to make no reference to Brown’s original title); a lush and intimate rendering of “My Romance”; a buoyant, hard-swinging “Better Than Anything.”

As in past appearances, however, stylistic uncertainties conflicted with the full expression of the duo’s genuine musical skills. Choice of repertoire, for example, ranged wildly, from superficial pop items to pieces that made extraordinary musical demands; the finely tuned interactivity between voice and guitar--a joy to hear when it is functioning well--was interrupted by Patti’s occasionally excessive focus upon pop-style, gospel-tinged musical preaching.

So call it two-thirds of a scintillating evening of music wizardry. But with just a little more focus it could have been completely magical.

* Tuck & Patti at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (323) 466-2210. $22 cover tonight at 8:30 and Sunday at 7 p.m.; $20 cover tonight at 10:30 and Sunday at 9 p.m. Two drink minimum.