With Nuclear Whales, It’s All Saxophone All the Time

Don Stevens is that rare musician who will never moan about not being taken seriously. But when you start a group called the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra, and your own instrument is a Monstro sax that dwarfs everyone this side of Shaquille O’Neal, what choice have you got?

“It’s kind of unavoidable--we are a novelty,” Stevens says. “But I like to laugh, and I think other people like to laugh, too.”

The six-member orchestra, which plays tonight in Fullerton, has been keeping audiences laughing, or at least smiling, ever since Stevens started it 15 years ago in the Bay Area as a way to grab the public’s attention without having to rise individually above the sea of talented saxophonists worldwide. The ensemble has since put out six albums, its latest, “Fathom This,” a compilation of tracks from its previous five albums that carry such appropriately whimsical titles as “Gone Fission,” “Thar She Blows” and “Isotopia.”

The group’s focal point since he bought it in 1989 is the King Kong of the sax family, a contrabass sax that stands 6 feet 8 inches and weighs 45 pounds--without its case. Its range extends 1those octaves lower than the vastly more common tenor sax.

“It is its own percussion section,” Stevens says with a chuckle. “Some of the rods are so long you can sometimes hear them clacking away.”

Sax historians report that only about 25 contrabasses were made, and fewer than 10 are still believed to exist, Stevens’ included. In recent years, however, an Italian firm began producing contrabasses for the first time in nearly 70 years. They sell in the United States for a hefty $39,000.

Adolphe Sax, the 19th century French inventor of the saxophone, drew up blueprints for an even bigger, lower-blowing model--the sub-contrabass--but apparently never built one. New York City-based Charles Ponte Music Co. did create one in 1965. It stood close to 9 feet tall and required three men to work the keys.

Stevens later learned that the contrabass he bought from a man in Kentucky had been rescued in the ‘60s by construction workers when they came across it in the basement of a New Jersey building about to be demolished.

Although it is the contrabass that first catches many listeners’ attention, Stevens says, it’s the ensemble’s music that holds it after the novelty has worn off.

All six members are accomplished instrumentalists schooled in jazz, classical and pop music, all of which they draw upon at Nuclear Whales shows. Most also play in other groups when they aren’t appearing with Stevens.

The career-spanning “Fathom This” runs from a swing era medley of “It Don’t Mean A Thing/Sing, Sing, Sing” and Gershwin’s “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” to Richard Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and several original compositions, most by group member Art Springs. The Whales also have been known to play Bach and Mozart, if the mood strikes.

Having a composer in the group is both a luxury and a necessity, Stevens points out, since few composers write for sax sextet.

Stevens’ next project for focusing attention on the instrument family he loves is to coordinate a meeting of 1,000 saxophonists at the Great Wall of China. The Nuclear Whales got an enthusiastic reception during its tour of China last year, so Stevens decided to try to organize the group sax outing for a return visit.

Why?

“I was afraid you’d ask something like that,” he says, laughing again at the sound of his mission improbable. “It has something to do with bringing people together. But it’s a little bit like asking mountain climbers why they climb mountains: It just seemed like an interesting thing to do.” On the group’s Web site, www.nuclearwhales.com, the Great Wall event is described as the orchestra’s method of “practicing saxophone diplomacy.”

Stevens had been aiming to bring the sax community--500 from China, 500 from the United States and elsewhere--together in May. But the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks drastically altered the complex travel and insurance arrangements, so he has pushed the timetable back a year.

Meanwhile, he’s busy coordinating the group’s U.S. tours, Web site, selling CDs and other merchandise and preparing its first concert video, some of which will be shot at tonight’s performance at Fullerton’s Plummer Auditorium.

“In 1993 we started working with a stage director,” he says. “That took our show to a new level, working it all out with movement and lighting. It’s more theatrically oriented. It’s still the same music, in a sense, but I think we’re just better at what we do.”

*

The Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra plays tonight at Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. 8 p.m. $20 and $25. Part of Cal State Fullerton’s PAIR Celebrity Series. (714) 278-3371.

*

Sun sets, Grove sprouts: The Sun Theatre in Anaheim will drop that name Dec. 13 and adopt a new identity as The Grove of Anaheim. It’s an effort by the building’s owners to put their stamp on the 1,200-seat theater they bought last year. When the Sun opened in 1999, it was owned and operated by Ogden Corp., the food concessions and arena management conglomerate that also operates the nearby Arrowhead Pond, among numerous other buildings around the country. Ogden sold the Sun to SMG Food Services, which has been increasing the number of corporate and private parties offered in addition to regular pop and rock concerts by local and nationally touring acts. General manager Stephen Lazar says the name change stems from research theater officials have done showing that “a lot of people in the community still don’t know about the Sun. What we’re trying to do with the new name is to have one that said exactly where it was--that it was part of Orange County. That’s one of the top benefits of changing the name....It’s SMG’s way to really give the facility its own direction.”

*

Don’t know what I want, but I know what to order: In the 1980s, we were informed that “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche,” a theory that undoubtedly carried a corollary noting that “Punk Rockers Don’t Do Brunch.” That’s changed, however, with a music and food series initiated in September at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana. Once a month the Galaxy offers a Sunday “Punk Rock Brunch” that appears to be taking off, says Galaxy spokeswoman Lark Allen. “It’s been about half capacity and climbing,” Allen said. The musicians’ credentials are beyond reproach: Sunday’s fourth installment features one of the deans of Southern California punk rock, TSOL singer Jack Grisham, who over the years has led a succession of punk and non-punk bands including Cathedral of Tears, Tender Fury and the Joykiller. Grisham will be accompanied by Cadillac Tramps front man Mike “Gabby” Gaborno and backed by a house band comprising members of Agent Orange, Manic Hispanic, Cadillac Tramps and Joyride, among others. “They trade off doing cover songs,” Allen says--all punk, of course. You’d expect the menu for a punk rock brunch to run toward raw meat and beer, but the Galaxy opts for more traditional fare including scrambled eggs, potatoes, fresh fruit, French toast and yes, even champagne. The menu does, however, include one item that seems ideally suited to the occasion: Bloody Marys. Food and music run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Information: (714) 957-0600.

*

Dwight night: The smallest venue country maverick Dwight Yoakam is playing on his current tour appears to the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, where he plays Sunday night. Yoakam typically plays larger theaters, from the 1,200-seat Sun in Anaheim, where he last stopped in Orange County, to the 6,200-seat Universal Amphitheatre. Expect him to tap his recently released soundtrack for the independent feature film he wrote, directed and starred in, “South of Heaven, West of Hell.” But he doesn’t otherwise have a new studio album that he’s promoting, which may explain his choice of the 475-seat Coach House this time through. Information: (949) 496-8930.