Twice a year, Ken Poston and the Los Angeles Jazz Institute deliver multi-day jazz festivals that emphasize various styles or eras of America’s Native Music. This season was a celebration of Howard Rumsey’s Legacy and West Coast Jazz. Thursday’s events included concerts by Toshiko Akiyoshi delivering a tribute to Hampton Hawes, Lighthouse All-Stars with Ron Stout and Ken Peplowski with Jeff Hamilton and Peter Erskine delivering a presentation of fellow drummer Shelly Manne’s West Coast Sound.
One of the benefits of these fests is that Poston always brings in a few “ringers” that rarely come to Los Angeles, and his concert “Tangents In Jazz” delivered the goods with clarinetist Ken Peplowski teaming with Putter Smith/b and Larry Koonse/g to give a concert focusing on songs associated with the uniquely toned Jimmy Giuffre. Peplowski wisely decided not to attempt imitating Giuffre’s patented lower registered tone, instead using his own clear and warm sound to deliver toe tapping easy swing on pieces like “Out of Somewhere” and “Till There Was You.” Koonse and Smith were both elastic and hip, able to sway on the accessibly bopper “Sonny Boy” as well as able to stretch inside and out on “Me Too.”
Giuffre’s more experimental period with Paul Bley was also explored on the free form improvisations during “Ictus” with Peplowski and team taking the audience of West Coast Cool on a trip to the North Pole. By the time the trio closed with Giuffre’s famous “Four Brothers,” Peplowski, Smith and Koonse showed the sounds and vision of the gentle revolutionary.
The next LAJI festival is Oct 29-Nov1 and will be a big band tribute to Frank Sinatra.