Alan Broadbent

Alan Broadbent What: Jazz Bakery's Movable Feast Where: Steinway Piano Gallery, 314 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday Tickets: $25 Information: (310) 271-9039 or http://www.jazzbakery.com

Alan Broadbent What: Jazz Bakery's Movable Feast Where: Steinway Piano Gallery, 314 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday Tickets: $25 Information: (310) 271-9039 or http://www.jazzbakery.com

Strip away a jazz ensemble's saxes, trumpets and drums, leaving only the bass and piano, and you instantly become aware of the keyboard's self-sufficiency. Such was the case Sunday at Spaghettini when pianist Alan Broadbent's usual drummer, Paul Kreibich, turned up absent. Suddenly, with the trio reduced to a duo, the piano assumed an even larger role in the music, serving as melodic lead, rhythmic timekeeper--it is, after all, a percussion instrument--and dispenser of harmonic color.

Before he moves his family to New York this fall, pianist and composer-arranger Alan Broadbent will play a final recital as a local resident Saturday night. Part of the Jazz Bakery's ongoing "Movable Feast" series, Broadbent, 64, cautions not to call it a "farewell concert. " The soft-spoken New Zealand native says from his Santa Monica home: "People are making more out of this than they need to. The bulk of my work is as a touring musician, and I can do that from anywhere. " Still, Los Angeles is losing one of the greatest living jazz pianists, and a composer-orchestrator who has few peers, if any. Broadbent's orchestrations have enlarged the work of headline singers, including Diana Krall, Natalie Cole and Michael Feinstein, and Charlie Haden's Quartet West.

In a sense, all piano players worth their salt are ambidextrous. But few put both hands to use as effectively as pianist Alan Broadbent. Broadbent's appearance with bassist Putter Smith and drummer Paul Kreibich on Thursday at Kikuya Restaurant was a wonderful, two-handed affair as the keyboardist developed songs equally with right and left appendages.

"I have two worlds in my head," says jazz pianist and composer Alan Broadbent. He stands in the middle of the studio in his Santa Monica flat, where shelves of scores and CDs and walls dotted with photographs of musicians such as Charlie Parker, Gustav Mahler and Bud Powell all vie for a visitor's eye. "One's the improviser," Broadbent says softly, in an accent that only slightly betrays his New Zealand heritage.

Alan Broadbent can hardly believe it, but he's back on the road again. Twenty years ago, the New Zea land native toured the world as the Woody Herman orchestra's pianist and one of that band's chief composers and arrangers. This year, he joined the core quintet that backs singer Natalie Cole--she hires ad hoc, supplemental string orchestras for her engagements--and he has appeared with Cole on numerous one-nighters in the United States and Europe.

Listen to these words from bassist Putter Smith about his friend and musical associate, pianist Alan Broadbent. "Impeccable," Smith began by phone from his home in Los Angeles. "Based in the essence of jazz, which is rhythm. His search is always to invoke the muse. And fortunately, people find that very entertaining in Alan's case." Smith and Broadbent, who play as a duo tonight at Kikuya Restaurant, have recorded five albums under Broadbent's name.

You never know where inspiration will strike. For 36-year-old jazz singer and Los Angeles club owner Joon Lee, it happened one night watching a documentary on blue whales. "These guys are vanishing at people's hands," said Lee, who has long been fascinated by the improbable grace and mysterious "singing" of the gargantuan mammals. "And I was like ... that sounds like jazz!" he added with a mischievous laugh. Three years later he opened the Blue Whale , a cozy and unconventional jazz club that in just 10 months has blossomed into one of the top spots for jazz in the city ?

ALAN BROADBENT TRIO "Pacific Standard Time" Concord Jazz * * * You can feel a number of influences in the work of pianist Alan Broadbent. His play suggests Art Tatum's detailed sense of embellishment, Bud Powell's energetic attack and the deep sensitivity of Bill Evans. But he does this mostly in spirit, without resorting to copy-cat phrasing or out-and-out quotations. And he does it in a way that seems perfectly natural, perfectly from his own personality.

You never know where inspiration will strike. For 36-year-old jazz singer and Los Angeles club owner Joon Lee, it happened one night watching a documentary on blue whales. "These guys are vanishing at people's hands," said Lee, who has long been fascinated by the improbable grace and mysterious "singing" of the gargantuan mammals. "And I was like ... that sounds like jazz!" he added with a mischievous laugh. Three years later he opened the Blue Whale , a cozy and unconventional jazz club that in just 10 months has blossomed into one of the top spots for jazz in the city ?

Alan Broadbent has been so busy, for so many years, doing so many different things, that it can be easy to overlook his remarkable skills as a jazz pianist. That's not to minimize his versatility. The New Zealand native has, after all, written charts for the Woody Herman band, performed with Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini and others, and orchestrated music for such singers as Mel Torme, Michael Feinstein, Natalie Cole and Diana Krall, winning a couple of Grammys along the way.

I'm standing outside the ordinary-looking Santa Monica apartment of one of the most extraordinary talents you've never heard of. Inside, Alan Broadbent, painfully shy and unassuming, is wondering how he's going to explain how he does what he does. The story begins five years ago, when I took advantage of one of the greatest freebies in all of Southern California.

Alan Broadbent may be one of the Southland's most versatile jazz artists. The New Zealand-born pianist-composer-arranger has worked in an extraordinarily wide range of musical settings, from playing piano with Charlie Haden's Quartet West to conducting an orchestra for Diana Krall. Unfortunately, his busy schedule -- despite its numerous rewards -- doesn't often allow him to appear as an instrumentalist in a straight-ahead jazz setting.

After reading numerous paragraphs of Don Heckman's review of Charlie Haden's performance at the Getty ("Charlie Haden's 'Art of the Song' Breaks From Album Format," May 8), one learns absolutely nothing about this concert. We'd like to enlighten the readers of what really transpired that evening. This was a night of magic, with a sophisticated and ethereal sense not recognized by the critic. We found the music to be healing and simply beautiful. Camaraderie between the strings and Quartet West was very apparent.

Strip away a jazz ensemble's saxes, trumpets and drums, leaving only the bass and piano, and you instantly become aware of the keyboard's self-sufficiency. Such was the case Sunday at Spaghettini when pianist Alan Broadbent's usual drummer, Paul Kreibich, turned up absent. Suddenly, with the trio reduced to a duo, the piano assumed an even larger role in the music, serving as melodic lead, rhythmic timekeeper--it is, after all, a percussion instrument--and dispenser of harmonic color.

Central Park West, the Brentwood bar and grill where good sounds are on tap Thursday through Sundays, confines its presentations to duos and trios. How much can be accomplished within these limitations was well defined Sunday when pianist Alan Broadbent appeared with alto saxophonist Gary Foster. Clearly this instrumentation could have benefited from the addition of a bass player, yet the two men seemed remarkably self-sufficient.

Alan Broadbent has been so busy, for so many years, doing so many different things, that it can be easy to overlook his remarkable skills as a jazz pianist. That's not to minimize his versatility. The New Zealand native has, after all, written charts for the Woody Herman band, performed with Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini and others, and orchestrated music for such singers as Mel Torme, Michael Feinstein, Natalie Cole and Diana Krall, winning a couple of Grammys along the way.

ALAN BROADBENT TRIO "Pacific Standard Time" Concord Jazz * * * You can feel a number of influences in the work of pianist Alan Broadbent. His play suggests Art Tatum's detailed sense of embellishment, Bud Powell's energetic attack and the deep sensitivity of Bill Evans. But he does this mostly in spirit, without resorting to copy-cat phrasing or out-and-out quotations. And he does it in a way that seems perfectly natural, perfectly from his own personality.

In a sense, all piano players worth their salt are ambidextrous. But few put both hands to use as effectively as pianist Alan Broadbent. Broadbent's appearance with bassist Putter Smith and drummer Paul Kreibich on Thursday at Kikuya Restaurant was a wonderful, two-handed affair as the keyboardist developed songs equally with right and left appendages.