Percussionist Has Ensembles to Match His Many Interests

It figures that someone trained in classical percussion, someone who excels at the vibraphone and plays challenging jazz traps, would create a number of projects to highlight his various skills.

New Jersey-based Gregg Bendian, who does all the aforementioned things, fronts at least five ensembles, three of which appear over two nights next week at Rocco’s in Bel-Air.

In an early-morning phone call before commuting to a rehearsal in Harlem under the direction of Ornette Coleman (Bendian will play timpani when Coleman’s 17-piece “Freedom Symbol” ensemble appears at New York’s Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival 2000 on June 1), the 35-year-old percussionist explained the differences among Trio Pianissimo, in which he plays drums; Interzone, in which he plays vibes against electric guitar, bass and drums; and Interstellar Space Revisited, his duo project with guitarist Nels Cline that covers one of John Coltrane’s most adventurous periods.

“Each of the groups takes a different approach in terms of composition and improvisation,” he says. “Pianissimo is much more of a jazz trio; the music has the regular cyclical jazz forms and chord changes. We do expand and play pieces that are more atonal and less structured, but differently than with Interzone. [Interzone] is more interested in thematic structures and counterpoint. And Interstellar Space is just completely unhinged.”

Bendian developed his parallel interests growing up in Teaneck, N.J., with parents who supported his classical training as well as other musical pursuits.

“For some reason I was interested in everything,” he says. “Classical, rock and jazz.”

At 16, he attended a concert featuring pianist Cecil Taylor. “From that moment on, it became a goal of mine to play with Cecil Taylor,” he recalls.

For the next five years, he went to every Taylor performance in the New York area. He became such a fixture at shows that he began hanging out with the band, taking lessons from drummer and Taylor associate Andrew Cyrille, and going to movies with the pianist. One day, Taylor’s drummer, Tony Oxley, couldn’t make a show and Taylor called the 23-year-old Bendian. He stayed with the band for a year. He’s heard on Taylor’s 1989 A&M; recording “In Florescence” that includes Bendian’s tribute to drummer Steve McCall.

Bendian’s own recorded work includes dates with saxophonists John Zorn and Roscoe Mitchell, and the 1997 collective date “Sign of Four” with guitarists Derek Bailey, Pat Metheny and drummer Paul Wertico.

“Balance,” a Trio Pianissimo recording, was released by Truemedia Jazzworks last year, and the Atavistic label of Chicago has recently released Bendian’s new Interzone recording, “Myriad,” with guitarist Cline, drummer Alex Cline and bassist Steuart Liebig.

Bendian opens his local appearances Thursday with two sets from Interzone. On Friday, Trio Pianissimo (with pianist Dave Witham and bassist Joel Hamilton) opens with two sets, followed by a closing set from Bendian and guitarist Cline playing from their Interstellar Space project.

Among the Bendian-led groups not appearing this weekend is his bluegrass collective Freegrass. “We take traditional bluegrass tunes and take them into a free improvisation area,” he says. “I play a very stripped-down drum kit, never with sticks, just with brushes or my fingers.”

Then there’s his Armenian trio that plays his arrangements of Turkish, Persian and Armenian tunes.

“I’ve taken a wide range of approaches to improvisation, melody and tempo,” Bendian says of Interzone. “I don’t want my players being bored; I don’t want the audience bored. Music has to be more varied than the usual trinity of up tempo, medium tempo and ballads. The common ground among all my groups is that we cover a wide variety of areas inside whatever genre the group covers.”

Rocco information: (310) 475-9807.

*

Armstrong: Trumpeter and New Orleans product Nicholas Payton takes a 12-piece ensemble into the studio next month to record his new arrangements of classic Louis Armstong material for the Verve label.

Payton will explore the music of Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven bands when he leads an octet that features his father, bassist and tuba player Walter Payton, tonight and Saturday at the Jazz Club in Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Information: (714) 556-2787.

*

Ellingtonia: The 18th annual International Conference of the Duke Ellington Society will be held May 24-28 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Daytime panel discussions and film showings will be featured along with evening concerts.

Highlights include the Tom Talbert Orchestra on May 25 and the Bill Berry L.A. Big Band on May 26 playing selections from Ellington’s film scores. Saturday, the Ellington Reunion Band performs with Herb Jeffries, Barbara McNair, Kenny Burrell, Buster Cooper, Gerald Wiggins and others. Also, a bus tour of “Ellington’s L.A.” will be conducted Sunday.

Information: (323) 933-9387.

*

Haden & Strings: Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, with pianist Alan Broadbent, saxophonist Ernie Watts and drummer Larance Marable, will be joined by vocalist Bill Henderson and a 24-piece orchestra to play from the quartet’s string recording “The Art of Song” at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Harold M. Williams Auditorium at the Getty Center. Tickets, $28, are available at (323) 655-8587.