McPherson Shows Why He’s in a Bebopping Class by Himself

Most musicians are defined by category. A very few define category for themselves, extending a genre’s limits as they explore its possibilities. Alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, who played Steamers Cafe on Saturday, is one of these rare, defining musicians.

Leading a quartet before an overflow crowd during the first two of three sets, McPherson redefined bebop for the ‘90s, emphasizing its roots in blues form and feeling, while giving the music modern mood and vision.

The 57-year-old saxophonist, who cut his teeth with pianist and bebop champion Barry Harris in Detroit before becoming an integral part of Charles Mingus’ Jazz Workshop in the ‘60s, showed that he’d absorbed the lessons of both while developing his own technically smooth, emotionally revealing sound.

Bebop standards played up-tempo, including Charlie Parker’s “Billie’s Bounce,” highlighted McPherson’s facile style as he moved through long, speedy phrases that were peppered with dramatic breaks and sudden turns.

He got up close and personal on ballads, especially “Embraceable You,” by sticking close to the melody while playing with less frenzy than on upbeat numbers. At both tempos, he frequently inserted lines that had a strong blues feel, an approach that imparted a good measure of poignancy to even the most cheerful-sounding numbers.

McPherson’s own compositions were the most innovative, allowing him an extended range of mood and expression. The thoughtful, mid-tempo lament “Autumn Nocturne” found him pushing ahead of the moderate tempo with involved phrases and flurries of notes before he floated a series of light, suspended tones over the rhythm section.

The contemporary rhythms of “Quiet Storm,” whose title connotes the soft, fusion jazz especially popular on WAVE-style radio formats, showed that accessible beats don’t require a dumbed-down take on improvisation.

“The Seventh Dimension” was the most appealing of McPherson’s tunes, an ambitious number that moved at an exotic pace and that was laced throughout with McPherson’s equally exotic sax lines. Despite its similarities to Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night In Tunisia,” this piece was the one most distant from McPherson’s bebop roots.

The saxophonist was well complemented by pianist John Opfenkuch, whose attentive accompaniment seemed to anticipate McPherson’s every whim. Opfenkuch’s lush, chord-rich solo during “Embraceable You” had a strangely dissonant feel thanks to a poorly tuned piano, but his up-tempo improv on “The Song Is You,” based on winding, note-at-a-time phrases made for a fine set of variations on the familiar theme.

The music’s drive, central to McPherson’s success, came from drummer Donald Dean and bassist Jeffrey Littleton.

Dean took a less-is-more approach on “Body and Soul,” allowing Littleton to provide the propulsion as he accented McPherson’s play with cymbal and tom-tom echoes. The cool glide of “Quiet Storm” gave the drummer a chance to show his polyrhythmic smarts.

McPherson’s appearance, the first at Steamers by an internationally recognized musician from outside the Los Angeles-Orange County area, was a step in the right direction for the excellent-sounding Fullerton club. Judging by the capacity crowd and its reception to the music, it won’t be the last.