McPherson Plays Bird and Beyond

Many of the elements of bebop--its rich harmonic vocabulary, its rhythmic drive, its arching melodies--have become so ingrained in the mainstream of jazz that we sometimes forget how appealing the music can be in its original form.

Fortunately, we have Charles McPherson to remind us that bebop is still one of the jazz world’s most demanding improvisational disciplines, as well as one of its most musically rewarding. On Friday at the Jazz Spot in Los Feliz, in the opening set of a two-night run, the San Diego-based alto saxophonist kept it basic and to the point. Playing a program of material--”All the Things You Are,” “Spring Is Here,” “Darn That Dream” and a couple of Charlie Parker lines--that might easily have served as the set list for a bop group in the early ‘50s, he poured out a series of solos filled with musical riches.

As an alto saxophonist and a bebopper, it’s perhaps inevitable that associations with Parker would be present in both sound and manner. And they were. Listening to McPherson underscored all the reasons why Clint Eastwood turned to him to record some of the Parker instrumental passages in the 1988 film “Bird.”

But McPherson’s work, especially in a stunning rendering of “Darn That Dream,” was far more than a simulation of musical times past. In fact, his virtuosic capacity to spin out harmonically complex, melodically ornamented lines with such inventive precision suggested where Parker’s music might have evolved had he lived beyond his too-brief 34 years.

Beyond that, there were many passages in McPherson’s soloing in which he remained in touch with the extended harmonies of a tune while blurring his lines with a distinctly avant-garde touch. It was the product of a creative artist whose roots in tradition are the foundation that allow an expansive improvisational imagination to blossom into wide-open areas of creativity.

He was accompanied by the supportive rhythm section of Randy Porter (piano), Jeff Littleton (bass) and Sherman Ferguson (drums). But the spotlight remained firmly fixed on McPherson, who, at 61, has still not received the recognition that his superb talent deserves.