Darren Barrett’s Substitute Quintet Concentrates on Solos

Veteran trumpeter Donald Byrd was originally scheduled to appear at the Jazz Bakery this week, in tandem with his protege, Darren Barrett. When illness obliged Byrd to cancel, the front line shifted to include Barrett, trombonist Curtis Fuller and alto saxophonist Antonio Hart. By the time Tuesday’s opening arrived, however, Fuller also was unable to appear, leaving Barrett and Hart to cobble together a quintet performance for a run that lasts through Sunday night.

On Wednesday, with a night of onstage rehearsing under their belts, the players sounded reasonably familiar with each other. Despite the sometimes tricky technical maneuvers required by Barrett’s original pieces, Hart whipped through the lines with ease, and the ensemble work--what there was of it--was generally handled with efficiency.

But this wasn’t a performance that was about collective efforts. Like the Kenny Garrett Quartet, appearing at Catalina Bar & Grill this week, the Barrett ensemble served primarily as a scene-setting agent for long solo efforts.

English-born Barrett was the 1997 winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition and now teaches at the New England Conservatory. He is, by any estimation, a technical virtuoso, and his fleet-fingered, high-note skills were on full display. With the sole exception of a ballad rendering of the standard, “That’s All,” the music was delivered in high-gear tempo, and Barrett responded with a series of choruses delivered with such rapidity that phrases often seemed to stumble over each other in their rush to emerge.

What was largely missing, however, was the sense of a personal voice. While his playing contained numerous associations with predecessors such as Byrd, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Wynton Marsalis and others, there was little evidence of Barrett as an individual creative force. More seasoning appears to be called for.

Hart, on the other hand, has been establishing his musical identity in impressive fashion lately and continued to do so in most of his soloing. Still not fully recognized for his rapidly growing skills, he sounded ready to step into the front rank of jazz saxophonists.

* The Darren Barrett Quintet at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. Tonight, Saturday and Sunday at 8 and 9:30 p.m., $25. (310) 271-9039.