Watts’ Drumming Expands in the Bakery

What’s the risk when you go out to hear a jazz group led by a drummer? An evening dominated by the Dreaded Drum Solo. And it can be even worse when the event takes place at the Jazz Bakery--a venue whose acoustics can make even the finest drum solo sound like a clattery assemblage of high-decibel noise.

Drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, who opened a six-night run at the Bakery on Tuesday, is a justifiably well-regarded player with a dynamic, high-energy style--precisely the sort of approach to percussion that can cause problems in the room. Conversely, however, his debut Columbia CD, “Citizen Tain,” was a thoughtfully conceived album with an impressive array of original compositions, none of them dominated by overwrought drumming.

The obvious question Tuesday was what sort of balance Watts would find between those two very different aspects of his music. But his opening set failed to provide a definitive answer. Watts simply laid everything out together. And the result was that although his program was devoted to material from the album, much of it was delivered with a far more aggressive percussion sound than was present on the recording.

In some cases, Watts’ busy rhythmic flow seemed appropriate. The happily grooving melody of his “Muphkin Man,” for example, benefited from his spirited percussion underpinning. And when he laid back--as he did in a trio version (with pianist David Budway and bassist James Genus) of the ballad “Pools of Amber” and in parts of the passionate “Attainment” (featuring some superb tenor saxophone work from Ravi Coltrane)--the results were first-rate.

But when Watts cranked up the percussion voltage, his effectiveness diminished, as the sounds of his drums and cymbals bounced indiscriminately around the room. The impact of all this clamor upon the front-line soloists--Coltrane and the inventive guitarist Paul Bollenbeck--was less than supportive.

That was a shame, since each delivered some fascinating improvisational efforts. Equally disturbing, Watts’ fine compositions only rarely emerged with the appealing qualities so beautifully articulated on the album.

And he would do those compositions a considerable service if he spent a bit of rehearsal time figuring out how to adjust his playing to the Bakery’s acoustic idiosyncrasies.

* The Jeff “Tain” Watts Quintet at the Jazz Bakery through Sunday, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. (310) 271-9039. $20 admission tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8 and 9:30 p.m.; $20 admission Sunday at 7 and 8:30 p.m.