Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra Travels Central Avenue

John Clayton and the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra got it right Wednesday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Past programs by the ensemble, particularly during their first season at the Hollywood Bowl last summer, have sometimes seemed unfocused in the effort to find a modus operandi for something that has never really been done before--to serve as a resident jazz orchestra.

But Central Avenue, as it has done so often for jazz in Los Angeles’ past, provided a solution by serving as an enticing thematic center point for performances by the orchestra and a line of gifted guest performers.

Host Bubba Jackson kicked off the evening with a quick overview of some of the legendary artists--a few of whom were in the audience or on stage--who performed in the avenue’s many venues during its heyday in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Pianist Bill Cunliffe followed, establishing the very earliest roots of Central Avenue with a high-spirited romp through his own piano transcription of Jelly Roll Morton’s classic “Black Bottom Stomp.”

Veteran bandleader-composer Gerald Wilson offered a somewhat later view when he conducted the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra in a toe-tapping rendering of his own swing tune “Hi Spook,” originally written for the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra in 1940. And singer Ernie Andrews nearly stole the show--as he often does--with a high-strutting, hard-swinging rendering of “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” his performance a vivid echo of a time when singers could entertain while still retaining every iota of their inherent creativity.

The first half of the program’s cornucopia of musical goodies climaxed with two new works by another Central Avenue veteran, 92-year-old Benny Carter. “Again and Again” featured alto saxophonist Jeff Clayton in one of Carter’s characteristic late-night-in-the-city saxophone themes; “Time to Remember” was a typically crisp, well-crafted, big-band swing special.

It would have been difficult, given the immense appeal of the opening set, for anything to quite match its level of musical intensity. But there was plenty of energy left for the program’s second half, as well, with a small band set featuring tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards, trumpeter Conte Candoli and the rhythm section of pianist Gerald Wiggins, drummer Larance Marable and bassist Jimmy Bond. A sterling evening closed with the orchestra’s performance of John Clayton’s three-part tribute to Carter, “Maestro.”