Burrell: Assured Leader and Sensitive Collaborator

There are three elements one can always count on in a performance by Kenny Burrell: a smooth and subtle swing, a solidly professional presentation, and at least one Duke Ellington tune. All three were present Tuesday at Catalina Bar & Grill when the veteran guitarist and educator (he directs UCLA’s jazz program) opened a five-night run with his quintet.

Burrell can generate a strong rhythmic flow without any accompaniment at all, but his efforts were especially well served by a rhythm section that included pianist Gerald Wiggins, bassist Roberto Miranda and drummer Sherman Ferguson, and his partner in the front line, saxophonist Herman Riley. It took a few tunes before the sound mix was properly adjusted, and Burrell and Riley occasionally seemed somewhat out of sync when they were playing lines together. But that didn’t prevent Miranda from delivering a passionate solo on the opening “Bemsha Swing,” and, once the audio kinks were straightened out, the music flowed with assured, competent professionalism.

Burrell, as he often does, offered illuminating commentary between the tunes, crediting his players when they soloed, and bringing the audience into the music in an intimately sharing fashion. His feature rendering of “In a Sentimental Mood” clearly explained why he reportedly was Ellington’s favorite guitarist, and his subtle backing of the other players underscored why he has been everyone’s favorite accompanist for decades.

The set also included showcase spots for the other players. Wiggins, whom Burrell rightly identified as a “national treasure,” made the often-done “Body and Soul” his own. Characteristically, he assembled it into a virtual re-composition, blending dense percussive sounds with locked-hand chords (reminiscent of George Shearing), brief bits of stride style and moments of rhapsodic melodizing. Riley adventured impressively through the harmonic thicket of Thelonious Monk’s “Ask Me Now,” and Ferguson--always an imaginative percussionist--used Blue Mitchell’s “Fungii Mama” as a vehicle for a wild array of sounds produced by drums, sticks and everything else within reach.

* The Kenny Burrell Quintet at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (323) 466-2210. $18 cover tonight and Friday at 8:30 p.m.; $15 cover tonight and Friday at 10:30 p.m. $20 cover Saturday at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7:30 and 9 p.m. Two drink minimum.