Worshiper of Miles Davis to Lead Tribute to His Work

To trumpeter Mitch Manker of San Diego, Miles Davis is a god. Manker, 36, has revered Davis’ music since he bought his first Davis album in 1975 from a used record store while studying music at the University of Iowa.

“They had a jazz cut-out bin that had them for $2.99,” Manker recalled. “The first one I bought was ‘Bitches Brew,’ and I said, ‘This is it, this is very interesting, it’s nothing like I’ve heard before and I want to learn more about it.’

“I decided to focus completely on Miles. I bought every record of his I could find, I became completely enthralled with his tone and his style, and I’m still that way.”

Manker even spent years searching for a horn like Davis’ before he bought his early-1950s Martin Committee at a bargain price through a classified ad 18 months ago.

Now, Manker is taking his obsession one step further with a Miles tribute band, ESP, which debuted in early February at Elario’s. ESP returns to Elario’s on Sunday night at 8:30 and again March 23.

It’s a timely tribute to the trumpeter, who died last year.

The group plays medleys of Davis’ music, ranging from his early 1950s cool stuff to his contemporary electric forays.

One set, for example, opens with a free-form synthesizer backdrop from which “Nefertiti” emerges, eventually segueing into “Freedom Jazz Dance,” which metamorphoses into “Freddie Freeloader.”

“I’m still really in love with his tone and the whole concept of his music,” Manker said. “The idea of using space as notes, that’s probably the thing that I’ve been trying to focus on most in the last five or eight years, trying not to play too many notes.

“I see a lot of potential with this band. They’re all world-class players. There has been talk of recording, and we’ve already done a little.”

It might sound pretentious for a group of young jazz pups to try to make it emulating a master, but Manker sees ESP as an outgrowth of Davis’ music, not just a group of impersonators. Manker doesn’t even wear leather pants like Davis did.

Will Parsons, who plays drums in ESP, is helping Elario’s owner Martin Mosier book mostly jazz talent, now that former Elario’s talent-coordinator Rob Hagey is gone and the club has stopped presenting internationally known jazz players.

During March, music at Elario’s will include a Sunday night jam led by pianist Lynn Willard, electric jazz band Cutting Edge on Tuesday nights, Polish music group Electro Carpathians on Wednesday nights, and traditional jazz band Tobacco Road on Thursday nights. Friday and Saturday nights, it’s jazz with Maurice Miller.

There’s no cover charge or drink minimum.

Music programs are falling by the wayside in public schools, and budgets for music are being cut at UC San Diego, but such trends haven’t deterred young people from pursuing jazz. This year’s field of jazz majors at UCSD is as strong as ever, with about 50 students, and young people continue to take an interest in a form of art they aren’t often exposed to during their formative years.

Wednesday night, UCSD’s Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Jimmy Cheatham, will give its winter-quarter concert at Mandeville Auditorium on campus. The music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Frank Foster and other Big Band legends will be featured.

Among the lead players is guitarist Dave Cook, 25, who will graduate from UCSD later this year.

Cook, who says his influences range from Wes Montgomery to John McLaughlin, hopes for a career in jazz, but plans to move to San Francisco, where he thinks he’ll have more of a chance.

“There’s a better scene up north,” he said. “There are more clubs and more advertising.”

Cook and his ensemble bandmate, bassist Martin Chandler, hope to launch their careers with a band of their own once they graduate.

Despite the presence of such enthusiastic young charges, Cheatham doesn’t like what’s happening to jazz in public schools, traditionally a major source of college talent.

“I’ve been very fortunate, but it’s deplorable. Not only here, but across the country,” he said. “It’s been that way for quite some time. Music is always the first thing cut, it’s ridiculous. We need some food for the soul, we need balance. I have to watch my blood pressure when I start thinking about it.”

You can hear Cheatham’s crew of 20 or so music majors Wednesday night at 8. Admission is $5 for the general public and $3 for students.

RIFFS: The North County All Stars, who cover the history of jazz with a lineup that spans several generations, play the San Luis Rey Downs Country Club in Bonsall on Friday and Saturday nights at 8. . . .

Longtime San Diego jazz deejay Rod Page’s “Golden Page of Music” show on KSPA-AM (1450) has been expanded to two hours. It runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays and features a variety of jazz and popular music, glued together by Page’s reminiscences about his years following the music. . . .

Jazz guitarist Laurindo Almeida will be interviewed on KSDS-FM (88.3) Friday at 2 p.m. Almeida celebrates the release of his new album “Outra Vez,” recorded live at the Jazz Note in Pacific Beach last year, at shows Friday through Sunday nights at the club.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: GET THE STOREY AT S.D. PERFORMANCES

San Diego jazz guitarist Jim Storey re-enters the local club scene Monday night with his new band, Storeyville.

Storey’s last group, Open Channel, disbanded last year, and Storey spent much of October and November playing aboard a Caribbean cruise ship. His new four-piece unit is named after Storey, but also after Storyville, the area in New Orleans where jazz was born in the early part of this century. It mixes original music with jazz standards and covers of pop jazz hits. Storey cites Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Pat Martino, John Scofield and Pat Metheny as influences. He prefers playing his own music, but includes pop-jazz covers in the group’s repertoire in hopes of getting more work and reaching broader audiences. Storeyville is rounded out by San Diegans Glen Fisher on bass, Ken Kimmery on drums and Janet Hammer on vocals.

They appear Monday at the B Street California Grill & Jazz Bar downtown; music starts at 8. You can also catch Storey later this month with percussionist Komla Amoaku’s Afro-Cuban percussion band, San Kofa, at El Sotano, the basement club beneath Cancun restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter.