A Year That, in Many Ways, Was Like a Complex Melody

What kind of year has it been for live jazz in Los Angeles? A very good year; indeed, one that simultaneously affirms the music’s great diversity as well as its major presence in the Southland.

Looking for some proof? OK, here’s a monthly overview of highlights. And, despite the wide array of entries, it would probably have been possible to double the list without especially diminishing the overall quality of the choices.

January. The first big jazz news of the year wasn’t actually related to a live event. It was the inclusion of Diana Krall’s album, “When I Look in Your Eyes,” in the Grammy Awards’ best album of the year category--a great rarity for a jazz recording. (As it turned out, Krall didn’t win in that category, but did pick up the Grammy for best jazz vocal performance. She was delighted with both the nomination and the award.)

On the performance front, matters heated up quickly with a high-spirited Jan. 1 appearance by Hank Crawford, Jimmy McGriff and Jimmy Scott at the Jazz Bakery. The temperature remained high at the venue throughout the month with a superb Latin jazz set by the still-underrated group Tolu (who headline the Bakery’s New Year’s Eve show on Sunday night) and a probing, outward-bound jazz exploration by pianist Andrew Hill. A different slant on Latin jazz also surfaced in the performance of Venezuelan-born keyboardist Otmaro Ruiz’s fine unit at Studio City’s cozy club La Ve Lee.

February. The month belonged to the inimitable Shirley Horn, whose two-week run at the Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel was a seminar in interpretive jazz vocalizing--a stunning performance in which her high points more than compensated for her occasional onstage eccentricities and the often excruciatingly slow tempos of her ballads. At Catalina Bar & Grill, another veteran artist--trumpeter-composer Chuck Mangione--displayed how it can be possible for a jazz artist to be popular and musically intriguing.

March. It was a month in which jazz singing, in a variety of manifestations, was front and center. There was, first of all, an extraordinary appearance by Krall at UCLA’s Royce Hall, singing and playing with poise and clarity, clearly determined to continue taking her music to a higher level. Kitty Margolis, appearing at El Camino College, was fascinating in a different fashion, as she brilliantly applied her own musical notions to a collection of instrumental jazz classics.

Also vocally unique, in their own idiosyncratic fashion, were Jack Sheldon, leading his big band at Catalina’s, and Arturo Sandoval’s astonishing scat singing at Founders Hall in the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Finally, there was the too little-known Rebecca Parris, appearing at Steamers Cafe in Fullerton and making a convincing case for her mature and expressive musicality.

April. Instrumentalists returned to the spotlight in April when Pat Metheny’s brilliantly diverse group--moving easily from New Age impressionism to sheer avant-garde--roared like a lion into Royce Hall. And that was only the beginning. Joshua Redman, finally beginning to deliver on the promise that suggested he might be the next major tenor saxophonist, brought jazz to a younger crowd at the Roxy. South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim blended spirituals, African themes and funk-driven rhythms at the Jazz Bakery, and vibist Bobby Hutcherson brought his fleet technical mastery and dramatic sense of spacing to a week at Catalina’s.

In contrast, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis celebrated the swing era with a rousing set--for listeners and dancers--at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

May. Perhaps appropriately, the spring days of May were filled with the blossoming of a colorful bouquet of jazz styles. The Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, countering the appearance of Marsalis and the LCJO with solid testimony to L.A.’s own big-band skills, celebrated the history of Central Avenue with a hard-swinging performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Gifted but low-visibility tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza survived a noisy crowd at the Club Brasserie in the Bel Age Hotel. And the gender diversity of jazz took center stage at the Goldenson Theater in “Instrumental Women: Celebrating Women-N-Jazz,” with Vi Redd, Karen Briggs, Terri Lyne Carrington and others in attendance.

On the vocal front, Dave Frishberg brought his wit and whimsy to the Jazz Spot in Los Feliz, and marvelous jazz/cabaret singer Wesla Whitfield found swing and substance in a program of music by Jimmy McHugh at the Cinegrill.

June. The real jazz summer always arrives in the Southland with the annual Playboy Jazz Festival. And 2000 was no exception, especially during the Saturday night program, with its eclectic set of performances by Mingus Amungus, Richard Bona, Los Van Van, Dianne Reeves, etc. Less visibly, jazz historian Mark Cantor’s jazz film night at LACMA was both entertaining and informative--an event that should be repeated monthly with selections from Cantor’s seemingly bottomless treasure trove of videos.

The eclecticism of the Playboy festival reached into the other programming of the month as well, with a stunning performance by Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana at the Jazz Bakery; a youthful, crowd-pleasing gig by Medeski, Martin & Wood at the Henry Fonda Theatre; a characteristically challenging blend of ballads and avant-garde from Pharoah Sanders at Catalina’s; and more musical wit at the Jazz Spot in the person of Dave Frishberg.

July. The big jazz band run continued over the summer with more appearances by the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as a showcase appearance--and a rare one--by the Gerald Wilson Orchestra in a Grand Performances event at the California Watercourt.

Ray Barretto revealed--as he has so many times--the intricate linkages between jazz and Latin rhythms in a weeklong run at the Jazz Bakery; tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane took some important steps beyond his famous father’s orbit at Catalina’s; and yet another witty singer--blues/jazz great Ernie Andrews--drew overflow crowds to the Jazz Spot (where he will headline Sunday’s New Year’s Eve show).

August. The warm days of summer belonged to the Hollywood Bowl and the monthlong run of the Henry Mancini Institute at Royce Hall. Among the cornucopia of jazz sounds at the Bowl, the highlights belonged to a program celebrating Dave Brubeck’s 80th birthday--one encompassing the veteran jazz pianist’s past as well as his still highly active artistic present--and a gorgeously melodic duo appearance by Krall and Tony Bennett with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But there was more: trombonist Steve Turre demonstrating how to extract jazz sounds from conch shells, and the opening of the film “The Tic Code,” with its low-key but remarkably accurate representation of a jazz artist’s life.

September. The opening of the Knitting Factory Hollywood brought a flurry of high-quality acts to the attractive new Hollywood Boulevard venue. In each case, they were acts that would probably have not made West Coast jaunts without the existence of the Knitting Factory. And there was a distinct downtown Manhattan quality to each of the performances--by the ROVA Saxophone Quartet; the Sun Ra Arkestra, led by Marshall Allen; and trumpeter Dave Douglas. Adventurous and cutting-edge, the programs suggested the opening, on a regular basis, of a window into East Coast jazz sounds rarely heard in the Southland.

However, although Charles Lloyd followed in October with an extraordinary presentation that also featured guitarist John Abercrombie, later bookings at the Knitting Factory have not yet fully delivered on September’s early promise. Interestingly, there were at least a pair of similarly offbeat appearances in other venues--the Joe Beck/Ali Ryerson Duo of guitar and alto flute at Rocco’s in Bel-Air, and the Latin jazz band Columna B, led by saxophonist Yosvany Terry at the Jazz Bakery.

October. In addition to Lloyd’s Knitting Factory program, October included pianist Danilo Perez’s weeklong run at Catalina’s and an annual appearance by gifted Brazilian songwriter Ivan Lins, whose music is slowly succeeding the songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim in the affections of many jazz artists.

November. The spotlight turned to UCLA’s Royce Hall via concerts featuring John McLaughlin and Remember Shakti and the Keith Jarrett Trio; violinist Regina Carter also performed in Schoenberg Hall. The McLaughlin program was a stunning reminder of the rich, productive connections between jazz and Indian classical music, performed by artists thoroughly conversant with both. And the Jarrett event, as always, afforded the opportunity to hear a jazz master performing at world-class level, despite his continuing battle with the hazards of chronic fatigue syndrome.

At the other end of the age spectrum, pianist-composer Andy Milne made a breakout appearance at Rocco’s, convincingly suggesting that he may be one of the important new artists to come to high visibility in the next year or so. Fred Hersch, always a stunningly superb craftsman, was in rare form in a “Gershwin and Beyond” program at the Skirball Center, and Nnenna Freelon affirmed her rapidly ascending vocal star in a week’s run at Catalina.

December. The year rolled to a close with one of the year’s best events: a musically engaging appearance by the Chick Corea Trio at Catalina’s. Like the Jarrett performance, it was the work of a jazz veteran in full flight, different in style and substance, but similar in its utter dedication to an insistence upon viewing jazz as a cultural expression with limitless possibilities. And, while there will be plenty of jazz rhythms cooking through New Year’s Eve, the Corea appearance was the perfect climax to a year that was as entertaining as it was diverse, as alive with possibilities as it was filled with the riches of a century of tradition.