Chaikin’s stylings provide a rare treat

Does the brass ceiling still exist in the world of jazz? Few female instrumentalists will go on record with an opinion. But it doesn’t take a human resources expert to note that the overwhelming percentage of jazz horn players continues -- as it has from the very beginning -- to be of the male persuasion.

The performance by saxophonist-flutist Carol Chaikin at Spazio in Sherman Oaks on Wednesday night was a relatively rare opportunity to hear a female jazz horn player fronting her own quartet. (Female jazz pianists, although not exactly abundant, can be heard more frequently.)

Chaikin has been a member of several all-female jazz ensembles, among them the quartet led by bassist and television personality Jennifer York, as well as the big bands, Diva and Maiden Voyage.

But for this outing she was accompanied by the all-male rhythm section of pianist Todd Hunter, bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Aaron Serfaty.

Her playing was an intriguing blend of honey and spice. On such ballads as “If I Should Lose You” and “In a Sentimental Mood,” she lifted her warm-toned melodic phrases high into the alto saxophone’s upper harmonics, ornamenting her lines with brisk, bebop-driven curlicues.

And when Chaikin shifted into a faster romp through “Caravan,” her sound took on a more edgy tone, while her improvisational flow roiled through swirling torrents of notes, driven across the length and breadth of her horn.

Chaikin’s selection of material -- which included standards such as “There Will Never Be Another You,” “Autumn Leaves” and the Clifford Brown jazz classic “Joy Spring” -- was the sort of repertoire that can bring out the best in an improvising artist. As it did with Chaikin.

And both the quality and the inventiveness of her playing left one wondering how jazz would fare if that brass ceiling could be shattered, once and for all, allowing the music to fully attain the sort of creative diversity brought to so many other art forms.