Perez Celebrates Music of His Native Panama

Pianist Danilo Perez’s new album, “Motherland,” is a compelling collection of rhythms and textures. A tribute to his native country, Panama, it uses a variety of instrumentation to explore connections between jazz improvisation and traditional rhythms and dances.

On Tuesday at Catalina Bar & Grill, Perez opened a five-night run in support of the album. Performing the pieces, however, called for a certain amount of rescoring, since his touring ensemble consists only of his piano, Adam Cruz on drums, Luciana Souza on vocals, Donny McCaslin on saxophones and flute, and Essiet Essiet on bass.

It was an interesting challenge, given the timbral quality of the CD. And the effort was not aided by opening-night audio uncertainties that tended to bury Souza’s vocal beneath the sound of piano, bass and drums.

But the appeal of Perez’s compositional intentions remained. The pieces from the album--”Elegant Dance,” “Suite for the Americas,” etc.--are assembled in far more intricate fashion than the typical theme-and-variations jazz approach.

Fascinated by the classical technique of through composition, he has structured the works with a continuing interplay between composed and improvised passages, often interlacing them so seamlessly that it can be difficult to tell where one leaves off and the other begins.

The delivery of those works was first rate, with Souza and McCaslin singing and playing soaring, complex lines around Perez’s McCoy Tyneresque piano phrases. In the solo segments, McCaslin--like many young saxophonists--easily integrated elements of avant-garde style with a driving, straight-ahead swing.

Although Souza only sang wordless, instrumental-style passages in the opening set, her voice was warm and expressive, and her capacity to whip through the convoluted melodic passages was extraordinary.

But a lengthy departure from Perez’s material in the middle of the program in the form of a Benny Golson number was a needless distraction.

Although it began well with Perez’s exploratory piano, it deteriorated into a seemingly interminable series of solos. Despite the occasional improvisational attractions, despite the stirring rhythm work of Cruz and Essiet, the segment was too much of a distraction from the appeal of Perez’s own imaginative compositions.

*

The Danilo Perez Quintet at Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood. Tonight at 8:30 and 10:30, $15 cover. Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m., $17 cover. Friday and Saturday at 10:30 p.m., $15 cover. Two-drink minimum. (323) 466-2210.