Parker is outplayed in tribute

A night of bebop made in heaven was on the bill Friday night at the Cerritos Center, but the audience got both more and less than it expected.

Drummer Roy Haynes, at 78 a veteran of the genre’s early years, led an all-star ensemble -- alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, bassist Dave Holland and pianist Dave Kikoski -- in a program titled “Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker.”

Haynes’ stellar reputation rests upon the clarity of finely crafted drumming -- a style based upon crisp, precise accents and clearly defined percussive timbre. And in this performance, the passages in which those qualities were present produced some of the night’s most engaging music. More often, however, a far more aggressive-sounding Haynes took over, energetically crashing cymbals, punching out hard-hitting crescendos and taking a considerably more upfront role than has generally been characteristic of his style.

In addition, the Parker “Tribute” omitted the most familiar repertoire -- including items such as “The Moose,” “Now’s the Time” and “Yardbird Suite,” all of which are present in Haynes’ “Birds of a Feather” CD. Instead, a substantial amount of program time was devoted to long, stretched-out, individual soloing.

That said, there was plenty to enjoy about the performance.

Garrett’s playing invested his bop-tinged lines with an edgy, contemporary quality, Payton revived the soaring, melodic style of Clifford Brown, and Holland brought extraordinary inventiveness to soloing and propulsive drive to his accompaniments.

Still, one couldn’t help but wonder how this fine collective would have fared with a more challenging portion of the Parker catalog, enhanced by a larger serving of the familiar Haynes subtleties.