Old friends to meet again on the jazz stage

In the early 1980s, a group of hot young players from around the country made names for themselves in New York. They weren’t free-jazz avant-gardists, neo-beboppers, electronic funksters or a part of Wynton Marsalis’ “young men in suits” brigade. These young bloods played the older jazz styles — traditional and swinging jazz with roots in the Great American Songbook — with admirable virtuosity, authenticity, scholarship and verve.

Saxophonists Scott Hamilton and Ken Peplowski, cornetist Warren Vache, trombonist and arranger Dan Barrett, drummer Butch Miles and guitarist Howard Alden were the leading lights of this small movement. They were able to play with and learn from greats like pianists Dick Wellstood and Joe Bushkin, cornetist Ruby Braff, trumpeters Doc Cheatham and Buck Clayton, bassists Milt Hinton and Michael Moore, and drummers Jake Hanna and Jackie Williams. It was a fortuitous time when veterans who were in their last innings could pass their knowledge on to willing students.

In 1982, Whitney Balliett wrote in the New Yorker: “Mark well the name of Howard Alden.” Jazz’s preeminent scribe praised the guitarist’s “crystalline sound,” where “each note is articulate and complete. His solos are succinct and orderly and swinging.” Noting musical allusions to Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt and Jim Hall in his playing, Balliett recognized “a couple of clear, light, silvery Howard Alden choruses.” Even at that stage, enthralled by the masters who came before him, Alden had his own voice.

Speaking from New York, Peplowski clarifies: “We weren’t trying to revive anything; we just all tried to play the best music. We tried to find good, interesting songs that hadn’t been played to death and bring them to the table.”

Alden, a Newport Beach native, had taste, facility, knowledge and invention that made him indispensable. He’s now a valued bandleader, small band sparkplug and accompanist, and he plays at Viva Cantina Tuesday for John Pisano’s Guitar Night. It’s a tribute to the 18-year series that the 56-year-old Alden tries to schedule a visit with Pisano whenever he passes through Southern California.

“At Viva Cantina we’ve been having good crowds,” Pisano notes, “and Howard has played with us many times.” The two-guitars-and-rhythm-section format allows for the featured guitarists to exchange with the protean Pisano.

“Howard,” Pisano adds, “can play in so many styles and he knows so many tunes that you can do a lot with him. He can play — Johnny Guarnieri played regularly at a piano bar on Ventura Boulevard.” Alden played with vibraphonist Red Norvo, and became great friends with drummer Jake Hanna and guitarist Van Epps.

“Howard learned how to play the style that George made up,” says Pisano in admiration. “He puts the guitar in his lap and plays it like a stride piano. He’s probably the only guitarist who can do that today.”

“I always thought of Howard as a kind of pianistic guitar player,” Peplowski asserts. “He has so many facets that sometimes he sounds like a horn player or a pianist. Howard’s great at playing the music of Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans or Duke Ellington and at finding his own way into their material.”

Though he plays in traditional settings, Alden doesn’t restrict his musical palette. “If you’re identified with a style,” he holds, “you’re just playing licks, rather than developing a musical personality. I’ve always felt free to take the music into other harmonic places — just as long as it sounds right.”

What: John Pisano’s Guitar Night with Howard Alden

Where: Viva Cantina, 900 Riverside Drive.

When: Tuesday, Jan. 20, 7 p.m.

Admission: Free

More info: (818) 845-2425
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KIRK SILSBEE writes about jazz and culture for Marquee.