JAZZ : A Music Maverick Finds Himself in the Mainstream

What a difference 22 years can make. Sixties renegade Gary Burton has become ‘80s mainstreamer Gary Burton. According to vibraphonist Burton, who plays Diego’s Loft in Pacific Beach this Saturday night, his playing hasn’t changed that much, just the musical climate around him.

“When I burst on the scene with my own group in 1967, I was considered avant-garde, one of the first to combine pop with jazz before the term fusion existed. They called us jazz-rock. At the time, that was just what I heard, what I wanted to play. I’ve pursued the same model. I’m open to stylistic influences, but I keep the focus on improvisational jazz.”

“My rock heroes were Dylan, the Beatles, the Band. My jazz influences during the early years were Bill Evans, Jim Hall and the usual famous horn players of the day. As I got further along, my big influence over the years has been Chick,” he said, referring to Chick Corea. Burton has recorded several times with that keyboard wizard, and the two have played together at least once a year for the past 18 years.

Burton also makes a cameo appearance on rock guitarist Eric Clapton’s new album. The two met in the ‘60s when they shared a bill at the Fillmore in San Francisco, when Clapton was a member of Cream.

The biggest change in Burton’s music of late has been the replacement of his pianist with young Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel. Burton returns to the powerful guitar-vibes combination featured in his ‘70s bands, with a string of guitarists that included Larry Coryell, John Scofield and Pat Metheny.

Tenor saxophonist Don McCaslin is the third melody maker in the band.

“With the three of us capable of handling melodies, and the guitar and vibes capable of handling chords, there are a lot of possible combinations.

“Sometimes Wolf and I accompany Donny, sometimes only one of us backs him. We also combine on melodies. We orchestrate different ways. The guitar and tenor share the melody line, or the vibes and guitar, or all three.”

Burton’s latest albums include guitarists: a year-old recording with Scofield, and an upcoming release with Metheny.

At 46, Burton knows himself and his music.

“I’m a very lyrical, melody-oriented player,” said Burton, a prime player on the mellow ECM jazz label in the ‘70s. “I have no political messages. I’m not angry. I’m not troubled.”

Cross-pollination is blurring the lines between styles of music. Rockers work with jazz musicians, rappers hook up with rockers, and Brazilian flavors are in with musicians of all stripes.

If the Yellowjackets are any indication, all this crisscrossing is expanding the musical horizons of the listening public. Originally pegged as a fusion band, the group has charted a jazzier course since drummer Ricky Lawson and guitarist Robben Ford were replaced three albums ago by saxophonist Marc Russo and drummer William Kennedy.

According to bassist Jimmy Haslip, one of two original Yellowjackets along with keyboard player Russell Ferrante, fans are are following the new direction with interest. The new album, “The Spin,” hit No. 1 on the Radio and Records contemporary jazz chart, and is still in Billboard’s top five.

On “The Spin,” the Yellowjackets opted for extended improvisations and simpler instrumentation more typical of mainstream jazz.

“We’ve been going in that direction for a while, but this is the first time on record,” Haslip said. “We’ve always stretched out live.”

Haslip said the band recorded the new album, engineered by ECM genius Jan Erik Kongshaug, more like a mainstream jazz session. Songs were played live instead of built up instrument by instrument. Overdubbing was kept to a minimum.

So they should easily replicate their recorded sound when they play two shows next Wednesday at 7 and 10 p.m. at Mandeville Auditorium at UC San Diego. Sharing the bill is Stanley Jordan, whose unusual two-handed tapping technique turns a guitar into a veritable orchestra.

France, known for fine wines and cuisine, has exported two other quality commodities this century: jazz violinists Stephane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty.

Ponty, who has thrilled listeners since the late ‘60s with his soaring, electric melodies, appears Tuesday night at Symphony Hall in downtown San Diego.

After learning the instrument from his violinist father, Ponty initially made his mark on albums with Frank Zappa and guitarist John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra.

On his new album, “Storytelling,” Ponty uses an unusual five-string violin, but the sound still includes the slicing runs and arcing glissandoes that have made him the world’s best-known jazz violinist.

RIFFS: Jazz fans should check out the “New Visions” program, carried Sunday evenings on the VH-1 cable TV music channel. Last week’s show included an amazing solo composition from drummer Max Roach, plus music videos of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Branford Marsalis. Unfortunately, subscribers to Cox Cable, San Diego’s largest cable system, can’t watch it, since Cox carries VH-1 only between midnight and 6 a.m. The channel may go full time next year. Dimension Cable in North County airs the show at 8 p.m. Sundays . . . Saxophonist Barney Wilen, who played with Miles Davis, is featured on “Le Jazz Club” this Sunday night at 7 on KSDS-FM (88.3). . . . Host Erin Searles dishes up blues Saturday nights from 9 to 11 on KPBS-FM (89.5). . . . Next Wednesday’s “Jazz Trax” concert at the Catamaran features Freeway Philharmonic.. . . Most Valuable Players plays this Friday and Saturday night at the B Street Cafe & Bar in downtown San Diego.