Lalo Schifrin scores one for ‘jazz lite’

“Rhapsody in Jazz” was the title of Lalo Schifrin’s concert presentation on Sunday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. A better title might have been “Jazz Lite Meets the Film Composer.”

Schifrin’s credits as the composer of film underscores are extensive -- including “Cool Hand Luke” (1967) and “Bullitt” (1968) -- and his theme music for “Mission Impossible” (1966-90) is a television classic.

As a jazz artist, he has had some impressive associations with, among others, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan, and his classical works have been performed by the London Philharmonic and the Three Tenors.

Given such an impressive resume, it wasn’t surprising that his program, performed by a full orchestra (with soloing by pianists David Benoit and multi-instrumentalist James Morrison), displayed some notable scoring.

Schifrin is at his best working with thematic material from other sources, and a pair of pastiche brews -- “Brazilian Impressions” (featuring Benoit) and “Dizzy Gillespie Fireworks” (featuring Morrison) -- along with the expansive “Rhapsody for Bix” (featuring Benoit and Morrison) provided some of the program’s better moments.

Less can be said of the day’s jazz qualities. The most substantive solo efforts were supplied by Morrison’s extraordinary trumpet work, and the rhythmic energy traced solely to the driving swing of bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Jeff Hamilton. Benoit’s soloing, however, tended to underscore his identification with the smooth jazz genre.

And Schifrin’s brief solo piano appearance, as well as his orchestral interpretations of Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk, masked their lack of creative density with the gloss of film scoring style overlays.