Schifrin tries to recapture ‘Gillespiana Suite’ magic

Repertory jazz -- the live re-creation of classic jazz compositions -- has not yet reached the level of fruition that it has in classical music. Beyond the laudable efforts of Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center in New York and Ken Poston’s Los Angeles Jazz Institute, significant jazz works can rarely be heard beyond their original recordings.

All of which makes the performance this week of Lalo Schifrin’s “Gillespiana Suite” at Catalina Bar & Grill a particularly intriguing event. On Thursday, Schifrin, who composed the suite in the late ‘50s for Dizzy Gillespie, conducted a full ensemble in a complete performance of the work’s five movements.

As Schifrin noted in his opening remarks, the “Gillespiana Suite” is actually in concerto grosso form -- a small group (a jazz quintet featuring Schifrin’s piano with Tom Scott on saxophone and flute, Jon Faddis on trumpet, Dave Carpenter on bass and Alex Acuna on drums) accompanied by a 15-piece brass and percussion ensemble. And the movements -- Prelude, Blues, Panamericana, Africana and Toccata -- were intended by Schifrin to characterize the full range of Gillespie’s musical persona.

Faddis, with his amazing virtuosity and uncanny stylistic resemblance to Gillespie, gave the performance its most authentic qualities. Scott’s fiery improvisations, Carpenter’s solid foundation and the Acuna-led percussion section’s Latin rhythms added even more convincing references to Gillespie’s involvement with Afro Cuban jazz reaching back to his partnership with Chano Pozo in the late ‘40s.

The composed elements of “Gillespiana” had somewhat less staying power. The fact that almost every movement was laid out in theme and variations format made for predictability, despite the generally fine individual soloing and adept large ensemble work. And Schifrin’s synthesist tendencies, in which his pieces gather, shape and adapt musical imagery from the period in which he is writing, tended to date the piece, especially the Africana movement, which sounded at times like a score for an old “Tarzan” movie.

Still, the performance of “Gillespiana” was well worth doing, for historical purposes and especially as an opportunity to hear Faddis in action. Let’s hope it stimulates the possibility of a similar club engagement for a live rendering of some of the Miles Davis/Gil Evans works from the same period.

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Lalo Schifrin Big Band

Where: Catalina Bar & Grill

6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood

When: 8:30 and 10:30 tonight

Price: $30-$40. With dinner or

two-drink minimum purchase.

Contact: (323) 466-2210.