Guitarist Whitfield Rushes to Entertain

If guitarist Mark Whitfield ever heard the phrase “Speed kills,” it wasn’t apparent in his playing Tuesday night at Catalina Bar & Grill. Nor, one suspects, would he have paid any more attention to the phrase “Less is better.”

In the opening set of a six-night run, Whitfield seemed on a quest to discover how many notes could be played, how rapidly, within a single group of four or five tunes. And, to his credit as a fast-fingered virtuoso, he managed to whip off an astounding array, played in virtually nonstop fashion.

As a technical display, it was impressive, the sort of presentation that could be a solid hit with young guitar students. But as musical communication, it left something to be desired. Whitfield’s determined exploration of his instrument had more than its fair share of passion, but its insistence upon remaining at an unrelentingly high level of intensity undermined its capacity to make a continued connection with his audience.

In the few passages in which he slowed his fingers down, Whitfield’s real skills as an improvising player began to break through. In a brief ballad segment, for example, as well as in portions of “Girl Talk,” his more lyrical line and rich harmonic clusters were the product of an imaginative jazz artist--one who doesn’t have to rely on overdrive momentum in order to make his creative points.

But the potential for other, equally moderating moments was diminished by the high-volume, low-contrast playing of the rhythm section--Peter Delano on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass and Donald Edwards on drums. Delano’s soloing on “Girl Talk,” like Whitfield’s, revealed a more temperate range of skills, but more often his supportive chording was buried in the unrelentingly turbulent rhythms generated by Rogers and (in particular) Edwards.

* The Mark Whitfield Quartet at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (213) 466-2210. $16 cover tonight, Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.; $14 cover tonight, Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. Two-drink minimum.