Pianist Has Found Right Voicings

John Larkin can hardly get through a sentence without coming upon a word that takes six or seven attempts to get out. He’s been a stutterer since he began to speak.

A few years ago the pianist, who speaks fluent bebop with his fingers at the keyboard, discovered that when he sang a song, and then offered a scat--or random vocal syllable--solo, his stuttering took a well-needed hike. Now, he says, he’s found his vocal language.

“Stuttering has paid off,” Larkin says with an uproarious laugh, and then lets loose with a series of syllables in “scooby-do-op-do-wah” manner.

“The fact that I’ve been a stutterer since I’ve been speaking has compelled me to find another way to speak another language,” Larkin says. Then he adds an exuberant, “Yeah, man,” in deep, clear tones.

Larkin began to sing while working on a cruise ship in 1984. “As I kept at it, and my confidence came up, I was doing OK,” he says. “So I began to sing at my jobs on land.”

But it wasn’t until last February, when he was working an engagement at the Cafe Moscow in Berlin, that Larkin--a native of El Monte who has been playing piano for about 30 years--”began to own that I really could sing, that I was good,” he says. “The German people were of great help. I received a standing ovation from a crowd of 300-400 people during that performance. They went nuts, they loved me. That changed my whole attitude. I began to own up to the fact that I am good and that I should be out there, singing.”

Larkin appears with his quartet this Sunday and next at Chadney’s in Burbank, and Thursday and Jan.10 and 24 with his trio at Lunaria in West Los Angeles. At his performances, he’ll go with such chestnuts as “Joy Spring,” “Ladybird,” “You Stepped Out of a Dream” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’ .”

The pianist-singer has appeared with Joe Farrell (and played on the late saxophonist’s last album, which has yet to be released), Al Jarreau--”before he became Al Jarreau”-- and Rickie Lee Jones. He can also perform a vocal stunt or two.

“I’m one of the few singers that can sing chords,” he says. “I can sing as many as four notes at a time. It’s something that happens in my larynx. I discovered this when I was on my way to a concert and I was scatting in the car and I heard this sound--it’s kind of like an ancient Hindu throat singing. It’s exciting. I do it maybe once or twice a night, because not everybody likes it.”

Larkin demonstrates his unusual technique by singing a one note, then he makes a weird rumbling sound that resembles a chant and sure enough, one hears three, if not four, notes sung simultaneously.

During a performance he’ll also sing a scat solo at the same time he offers a different improvisation from the keyboard.

Things in Larkin’s future include more gigs, a possible record and lots of singing. “I’m just trying to say, ‘Hello world,’ ” he says.

Rim Shots: Shorty Rogers, who appears tonight and Saturday with the new Lighthouse All-Stars at Catalina Bar & Grill, had this recollection the other day about his times on New York’s 52nd Street in the ‘40s: “I was so fortunate to have been there before and during the time when Charlie Parker was there. Now, I can express it in words, but unless you were there, you couldn’t feel the impact or the importance of his arrival. It was like the world was completely dark and someone opened a window and let light in for the first time. That’s how startling he was.”

Brubeck Pact: Dave Brubeck, who will forever be known for his version of “Take Five,” the tune written by his late alto player, Paul Desmond, has signed to record for MusicMasters, the East Coast label that also boasts such artists as Benny Carter, Louis Bellson and the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra.

Brubeck’s initial release is “New Wine,” a just-out live recording featuring the pianist’s quartet--Bill Smith, clarinet, Jack Six, bass and Randy Jones, drums--in the company of the Montreal International Jazz Festival Orchestra.

“The album captures the excitement of my jazz quartet collaborating with a symphony orchestra, and blends the heritage of symphonic music with the adventurous spirit of jazz improvisation,” Brubeck declares in a press release. “ ‘New Wine’ is perhaps the ‘liveliest’ of my live recordings.”

Brubeck, one of the most popular of jazz artists and a man who makes over 100 concert appearances in the United States each year, is currently on a European tour.