Violinist Emerges From Yanni’s Shadow

Karen Briggs’ charismatic violin playing is familiar to millions of people via her appearances--on recordings, live and on video--with New Age favorite Yanni. Even though she is prominently featured in most Yanni performances, however, few in his huge audiences are aware of the full extent of Briggs’ remarkably diverse instrumental talent.

On Thursday night at La Ve Lee in Studio City, she took advantage of a relaxed setting and a warmly appreciative crowd to display her easygoing command of a program of pieces ranging from warm ballads to hard-driving funk rhythms.

Briggs’ most intriguing characteristic was her capacity to reach into the complex array of the violin’s sound-producing qualities. Rather than try to make the instrument follow jazz horn patterns, she explored its rich timbral qualities--sliding glissandi, double stops, pizzicato, overtone harmonics. And, imaginative improviser that she is, she never used them as sheer sound effects, but as elements to express her inventive musical flow.

The centerpiece of her opening set was a lengthy, many-segmented romp through the old Stylistics hit “People Make the World Go Round.” Halfway through, Briggs’ displayed her straight-ahead jazz credentials, whipping out a high-flying, multi-note sequence with distinct John Coltrane resonances.

Then, refusing to be locked into any particular perspective, she shifted gears into showcase funk style, pushing out driving high notes, sliding up into a sequence of audience-pleasing repetitions.

It was an impressive performance, especially when juxtaposed against her lyrical renderings of “Misty” and, in a closing epilogue, “The Christmas Song.”

Briggs’ efforts were largely matched in the front line by the stirring solo work of saxophonist Donald Hayes, who also moved freely between heated funk and briskly articulate bop-based passages.

Although the set was not, in sum or style, comparable to what Briggs does with Yanni, it was a welcome opportunity to hear the extent of her first-rate musical skills.