JAZZ REVIEW : Hooper Stix to His Guns, Shows Old Form : Huntington Beach performance is a return to the Lighthouse days, when his group scored as the Jazz Crusaders.

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Stix Hooper is one musician who lives up to his nickname. In Saturday’s first set with bassist Luther Hughes’ trio at El Matador, Hooper (whose given first name is Nesbert) displayed energy, power and inventiveness that gave weight to Hughes’ claim from the bandstand that he is among the world’s finest drummers.

The Texas-born Hooper moved to California in the early ‘60s with the other founding members of the Jazz Crusaders, saxophonist Wilton Felder, trombonist Wayne Henderson and keyboardist Joe Sample. Though the group was best known for funk and R&B-influenced; sounds, its hottest live recording, an excursion into the neo-bop styles of the day, was made just up the coast from El Matador at the old Lighthouse club in Redondo Beach back in 1969.

The group, with Buster Williams handling the bass chores, put its familiar Texas-flavored trombone-tenor blend to originals and standard musical challenges such as John Coltrane’s “Impressions,” all powered by Hooper’s signature energy and drive.

But shortly after, the group dropped the word Jazz from its name and took a turn toward the more pop-oriented funk and R&B; material for which it’s best remembered. Hooper eventually left the Crusaders in 1983 to pursue studio work and a solo career.

As he explained between numbers Saturday, his appearances with his own band are more structured than the here’s-the-music-now-let’s-play-it session at El Matador. This show was a return to the Lighthouse days, with Hooper displaying an arsenal of percussive firepower that pushed his mates to the outer limits.

Wielding the same active style that propelled his playing 20 years ago, the drummer conjured up a variety of crisp tempos and colors, while controlling the action from behind his traps with a Svengali-like intensity.

The group, including saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa and keyboardist Mark Portman (both currently with the Rippingtons) alternated Hooper covers with a pair of familiar workhorses. The drummer shouted encouragement to his colleagues while producing some witty tom-tom dialogue during Phil Upchurch’s “Name of the Game.” Miles Davis’ familiar “All Blues” followed, with Hooper manipulating the pace between a loping, in-the-saddle feel and a sharp walk.

The drummer’s own “I Felt the Love” built from a relaxed, ballad into an intense affirmation that he charged with assaults on his closed hi-hat.

But his best showing was on “Caravan,” which he dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington. With the addition of trombonist Wendell Kelly to the combo, Hooper used mallets to bring shading from his cymbals and Middle Eastern airs from his toms. Kelly grew more aggressive and assured as his solo progressed, aided by the drummer’s punchy dynamics.

Portman worked Chick Corea-like Spanish lines and a touch of dissonance into the tune, all anchored by Hughes’ on-the-money bass designs. Hooper’s solo featured long periods where, ignoring the skins, he slashed and burned on his cymbals.

Compared to his sound from the old Lighthouse recording, Hooper’s playing reveled a move away from a direct, on-the-beat style to a polyrhythmic attack full of accents and dialogue, something not always apparent on his more recent recordings.