Leadership Doesn’t Match Musicianship

There are many ways to lead a jazz group. Some ensembles simply serve as backup for a virtuosic frontman. Others are vehicles for a leader’s compositional efforts. And still others are attempts to produce fully balanced musical aggregations, in which the leader’s primary accomplishment is placing the best musicians in the most felicitous setting for making prime improvisational art.

From the first perspective, bassist John Patitucci is a highly gifted virtuoso, his experience stretching back to gigs with Chick Corea, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard and others. His compositions, however, do not quite rise to the level of his playing, and his capacity to create a balanced, musically integrated ensemble is still in the early stages of development.

Patitucci’s individual work Tuesday in the opening of a six-night run at Catalina Bar & Grill was generally first-rate. A solo excursion through bassist Oscar Pettiford’s “Bohemia After Dark” was a finger-flying display of his remarkable technical skills. But, on this tune in particular, one couldn’t help but recall how much more musically compelling the late, legendary Pettiford managed to be, while using so many fewer notes.

Patitucci’s compositions, most tracing to his current album, “Communion,” ranged widely. “Calabria” had a lovely, atmospheric quality, its floating harmonies and top-of-the-horn improvising by tenor saxophonist Tim Ries reminiscent of Charles Lloyd’s recordings from the ‘60s. But “Choro Luoco,” a Brazilian forro dedicated to the veteran composer Hermeto Pascoal, lacked the visceral energy one associates with this high-spirited, improvisational style.

The ensemble Patitucci led included Ries, the superb Venezuelan pianist Ed Simon (playing far too few solos) and drummer Antonio Sanchez. (Drummer Horatio “El Negro” Hernandez was not present, his previously announced appearance the result of a communications mix-up between the group management and the club.) Although the inherent solo firepower in this impressive lineup exploded convincingly from time to time, there was little sense of the sort of intuitive, interactive spontaneity that is the hallmark of the best jazz collectives. And what the set made clear was the fact that Patitucci has a few giant steps to go before his leadership skills match his individual musical virtuosity.

The John Patitucci Quartet at Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Tonight at 8:30. and 10:30, Friday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 p.m., $16 cover; Friday at 8:30 p.m., Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7:30 p.m., $18 cover; Saturday at 8:30 p.m., $20 cover. Two-drink minimum. (323) 466-2210.