A Lighthearted Vibe: ‘Bach Meets Bird’

Bill Mays dropped into town Monday night, displaying the musical skills that have been the wellspring for a long, diverse artistic career. The New York-based pianist, once a Southland regular, has a resume filled with far-ranging achievements, from his time as music director for Sarah Vaughan in the early ‘70s to his participation in hundreds of television and film soundtracks during a 12-year stint in Los Angeles recording studios, as well as writing arrangements for a list of artists that includes Woody Herman, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank and Phil Woods.

Mays’ performance at the Jazz Bakery with bassist Tom Warrington and drummer Joe LaBarbera was, however, the work of a player who--despite his many other activities--has remained firmly in contact with the sheer pleasures of jazz improvisation.

And the nods of approval and smiles of appreciation he frequently tossed in the direction of his two companions underscored how much fun he was having during an evening in which the emphasis seemed to be upon upbeat, briskly swinging music.

In his interpretations of standards, Mays’ experience as a vocal accompanist and a composer-arranger were ever-present in his solos. Well-crafted, filled with intriguing melodic counter phrases, his choruses unfolded with the logic and the connectiveness of preconceived compositions.

He enhanced his improvisational choices with an impressive degree of tonal coloration and variation.

The most entertaining number in Mays’ set was a humorous but musically engaging combination of Bach and Charlie Parker, “Bach Meets Bird,” in which he blended elements of the Bach Two Part Invention in F and Parker’s “Ah-Leu-Cha,” with bits and pieces from other bop tunes tossed in for good measure. It was a good example of the sort of lightheartedness that serves jazz well, opening up the music to listeners leery of improvisational journeys through more discordant musical landscapes.