Ferber Jam Echoes the Past and Bops Ahead

The musical convergence between old and new that took place at Rocco Ristorante in Bel-Air Thursday night provided an interesting coda at the turn of the century. Trombonist Alan Ferber’s sextet, consisting for the most part of younger players, offered a set of material with some distinct echoes of the buoyant West Coast jazz style of the ‘50s.

Ferber’s arrangements for an ensemble that also included his brother Mark Ferber on drums, alto saxophonist Kim Richmond, tenor saxophonist Jerry Pinter, pianist Joe Bagg and bassist Christoph Luty were extremely well-crafted, often making the three-horn lineup sound like a substantially larger section.

Much like ensemble writers from the ‘50s such as Shorty Rogers and Marty Paich, Alan Ferber reached for unusual textures (often by casting his trombone in a high register), chose the most piquant harmony notes for the horn passages and used contrapuntal lines effectively.

It was fascinating, however, that--amid a set with some distinctly retro qualities--it was Richmond, the oldest musician on the stand, who played the most persistently adventurous solos.

Generally starting from the bop framework he knows and plays so well, he repeatedly broke through toward open horizons, his far-ranging lines a manifestation of the ‘90s and beyond, rather than the ‘50s.

Ferber’s trombone work was articulate and imaginative, if not particularly gripping. But Pinter, generally a strong soloist, sounded surprisingly hesitant. In the rhythm section, Bagg--who is also a masterful organist--was solid on piano, working well in tandem with Luty.

And Mark Ferber, one of L.A’s most versatile young drummers, contributed a particularly colorful solo on an unannounced tune, shifting effectively between his jazz drum kit and an array of jangling, buzzing and shimmering percussion sounds.

If there was a problem with the set, it was Alan Ferber’s tendency to isolate his horn passages, using the rhythm section to simply chug along as an accompanying force rather than as a potentially expansive compositional element.

When he did find a more effective integration of horns and rhythm, the results were impressive.

The energy level rose, the musicians dipped into some wildly frenetic collective improvising, and West Coast jazz was sounding ready to groove into the new millennium.