They’re playing his tunes

Jennifer K Mahal

The first song Scott Wilkie ever wrote was a simple three-chord ditty

composed during a fine arts summer camp when he was about 13.

“I don’t remember the title,” the 36-year-old keyboardist said. “It

was something real cornball. Something a 13-year-old would name their

song.”

Nowadays Wilkie, who will play Wednesday in Fashion Island’s Summer

Concert Series, gives his jazz tunes titles such as “The Gnu Won,” “Sign

of the Times” and “Fruit Sandwich.”

“Everything I perform is my own composition,” Wilkie said. “With this

band, we don’t really play anything that I don’t write. It’s fun to sit

down and have something come out of my head and watch it blossom into

something with the band.”

The band is made up of bassist Nathan Brown, drummer David Owens,

percussionist Eddie Drayton and guitarist Matthew Von Doran. They have

released two albums on the Narada label -- “Boundless” and “More Than You

Know.” “Boundless” was critically acclaimed as one of the best

contemporary jazz recordings of 1999.

“We do a lot of shows in front of people who have never heard us

before, and they’re fans by end,” Von Doran said.

But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a strong following, he

clarified. The band has headlined shows across the country.

Wilkie, who is moving from Newport Beach to another Orange County city

this week, grew up in Detroit. He was still a student at Birmingham

Groves High School the first time he heard his music on the radio, on

Alan Almond’s “Pillowtalk.”

“I was at my house and this was a show I would have on every night

when I was doing homework,” Wilkie said. “I had never met the guy or

anything, but I had this tune that seemed like it would fit the vibe of

his show, and I sent him a copy of it.

“All of a sudden, I’m sitting there -- it’s one of those life

experiences you never forget -- listening to the radio and he says,

‘Isn’t that terrific! Let’s play it again.’ And he played it again, just

like that.”

The tune, “Song for Shari,” eventually became one the permanent themes

of “Pillowtalk.”

“It was very fun, especially for this punk high school kid,” Wilkie

said.

What he finds fun now is playing with the band, which has been

together for a number of years.

“What makes the show fun is the dynamic of these personalities working

together that are good friends,” Wilkie said. “The show transcends being

tunes that came out of my head and more becomes [part of what] everyone

brings to the table.”

Von Doran, a Costa Mesa resident, agrees.

“The main thing is that we all really enjoy one another as friends,”

he said, “and so to get onstage and play great music with your friends, I

can’t think of anything better than that.”

FYI

What: Scott Wilkie

When: 6 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Fashion Island, 900 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach

Cost: Free. Preferred seating is available for $15.

Call: (949) 721-2000