Javon Jackson Has Technique but Not a Distinct Sound

The retro tendencies that have dominated so much of jazz in the ‘90s have had their valuable aspects. After the funk, fusion and electronics of the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was a welcome relief to hear jazz that was founded upon the traditional elements of swing, improvisation and the blues.

Up to a point. And that point was reached when the skill level among young players had reached a place at which it was virtually impossible to tell one player from another without a scorecard. They all played bebop and they all played it extremely well. But too often, facelessly.

Take Javon Jackson’s appearance at the Jazz Bakery Tuesday in the opening set of a six-night run. Everything that the 34-year-old tenor saxophonist played was executed with efficiency. Playing fast or playing slow, he was always in control of his musical line, a young player who has mastered the jazz elements of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s.

But Jackson had two problems that were not solved by rapid-fire virtuosity. The first was a relatively colorless sound. His soloing continually emphasized technique while sacrificing tone. Only during an unaccompanied opening to “I Can’t Get Started” did Jackson give even the slightest hint of a richer, more varied tonal palette--and, in fact, of a more identifiable style. The second was a tendency to improvise in disconnected segments. There’s no reason to expect a jazz soloist to create an instant formal structure in a solo, but compelling improvisation usually has a flow, a feeling of continuity. Javon, despite an admirable imagination for improvising, appeared to have an inspiration that ebbed and flowed in unrelated bursts of creativity.

The net result was that much of the group’s musical interest tended to focus on the veteran organist, Lonnie Smith. Wearing a turban and a caftan, Smith provided a visually compelling image. But his playing was even more beguiling, especially during one of his original pieces, in which he generated a tempest of fire, fury and swing from his instrument with the frenetic excitement of a jazzed Jimi Hendrix.

Guitarist Dave Stryker’s infrequent solos were generally well done, and a blues-drenched duet with Jackson was one of the set’s high points. Driving everything forward, Idris Muhammad’s drumming was a virtual force of nature; his solo on “Giant Steps” was a model of imaginative percussion work.

* The Javon Jackson quartet at the Jazz Bakery through Sunday. 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City, (310) 271-9039. $20 admission tonight and Saturday at 8 and 9:30 p.m., and $18 Sunday at 7 and 8:30 p.m.