Rhythm Section

They're the guys who are usually grouped under a single title: the rhythm section. The guys who receive critical praise in phrases beginning with "The rhythm section propelled the rhythm forward in high gear ..." etc. Not much in the way of individual personality there. Of course, the pianists have an easy escape route.

When singer and Gibson hollow-body strummer Nick Waterhouse introduced one of his songs as "the B-side to a 45" during his record release party, you'd have been forgiven for briefly thinking the entrance to the American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood may have opened into another decade. Well, at least at first glance. Wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a smart suit and well-trimmed short hair that got mussed when he soloed, the young Los Angeles artist and his eight-piece band looked ripped from history as they pushed through a dozen-plus songs, many from his new album "Holly.

Saxophonist Dan St. Marseille reaches a new level of expression on his third recording for his Orange-based Resurgent Music label. Part of the reason for his newfound intensity can be found in the rhythm section that bassist Henry Franklin assembled for the date.

On "De Este Lado Del Camino," the third track from their newest album "'El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco," Café Tacuba celebrates the art of creative meandering. "From this side of the street, without looking for any destination / and although the design isn't very clear," lead singer Rubén Albarrán intones in Spanish, his gravelly honeyed tenor guiding the rhythm section through a gathering storm of ethereal keyboard chords on its leisurely sojourn. Unhurried and unworried about the trail ahead, but sure of its ultimate purpose: That artistic approach has defined the Mexico City quartet and helped it endure for two decades as one of alt-Latin rock's most popular and influential acts.

Give John Handy four stars for imagination and effort. And somewhat less for execution. Class--the group he has been carefully nurturing for the last seven years or so--is an ensemble that is unique in the history of jazz. Friday night at Long Beach's Birdland West, the four violinists and three-piece rhythm section (in addition to Handy) played and sang a strikingly orchestrated set of jazz standards.

Think trombone and you're thinking slide. But the trombonist on stage last week at the Itchey Foot restaurant in downtown Los Angeles wasn't sliding, wasn't doing that traditional tailgating thing. In a warm give-and-take trio session with guitar and acoustic bass, this trombonist was working valves like a trumpet player. And he was cooking.

Tom Margitan puts together a good little lounge act, just the kind of thing that goes well in the intimate quarters of Vinnie's restaurant. But when the saxophonist-vocalist referred to Bill Murray's old "Saturday Night Live" parody of the over-stylized lounge singer, it served to remind the audience of the difficulties he and keyboardist Tom Zink faced playing as a duo in these cozy circumstances. And it invited comparisons.

* * * Peter Apfelbaum & the Hieroglyphics Ensemble, "Jodoji Brightness," Antilles. The saxophonist-leader's 15-piece unit works out over an electric, world music-oriented rhythm section--the closest reference point may be Nigeria's Fela Anikulapo-Kuti when his horn section kicks in. The emphasis here is on collective improvisation and group playing, but the real payoff is the eclectic writing, including adapting a Dylan Thomas poem to a neo-chamber piece and the Ethiopian-tinged "The Glow."

JAZZ A onetime member of the New Tony Williams Lifetime and current chair of jazz studies at USC, keyboardist Alan Pasqua joins a powerful trio featuring a rhythm section comprised of fellow local favorites Darek Oles and drummer Peter Erskine, who performed with Jaco Pastorius in Weather Report as well as a variety of top-notch jazz gigs around the city. This certainly qualifies as another one of those. Vitello's, 4349 Tujunga Ave., Studio City, 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sat. $20. http://www.vitellosjazz.com

To call bassist Flea's new collaborative effort, Atoms for Peace, a departure for the versatile musician is to underestimate the scope of his talents. Over his 30-year career, he's played punk bass, slap bass, jazz bass, trance bass, arena rock bass and nearly naked tube-sock bass. On "Amok," the five-man supergroup's debut album, the artist known for his work as a nihilist in "The Big Lebowski" - oh, and as a founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers - provides mesmerizing doses of hypnosis bass to create some of the most groove-heavy lines of his career.

JAZZ A onetime member of the New Tony Williams Lifetime and current chair of jazz studies at USC, keyboardist Alan Pasqua joins a powerful trio featuring a rhythm section comprised of fellow local favorites Darek Oles and drummer Peter Erskine, who performed with Jaco Pastorius in Weather Report as well as a variety of top-notch jazz gigs around the city. This certainly qualifies as another one of those. Vitello's, 4349 Tujunga Ave., Studio City, 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sat. $20. http://www.vitellosjazz.com

There was a heavy Taiwanese presence at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica for the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra's run-out concert Thursday night. No wonder, what with the sponsorship of the concert by the Taiwanese United Fund and the unveiling of a new Romance for Cello and Orchestra by Taiwanese composer Gordon Chin as played by cellist Felix Fan, whose parents come from Taipei. Ultimately, though, the biggest attention-getter of the night was another Fan solo vehicle, a cello concerto from the bent imagination of Austrian pianist-composer Friedrich Gulda.

Japanese pianist Hiromi hit the ground running in her opening set Wednesday at Catalina Bar & Grill. Playing a small keyboard synthesizer placed on top of the venue's Yamaha grand piano, she instantly kicked off a fiery rhythmic groove, as she swayed in sync with an energized flow of electronic bleeps, burps, grunts and moans.

They're the guys who are usually grouped under a single title: the rhythm section. The guys who receive critical praise in phrases beginning with "The rhythm section propelled the rhythm forward in high gear ..." etc. Not much in the way of individual personality there. Of course, the pianists have an easy escape route.

The odd title of Mark Burnell's debut thriller refers to the human heart and lungs. A fellow trainee at a commando school in Scotland tells Stephanie Patrick: "Your heart is the drums, your breathing is the bass. . . . You can't panic when your breathing's under control and you've got your pulse in check. It's not physically possible. . . . Keep the rhythm section tight and the rest of the song plays itself."

*** Jean-Luc Ponty, "Tchokola," Epic. Ponty seems genuinely transformed by the propulsive power of the fascinating African rhythm section. Most of the pieces offer few harmonic challenges. Still, the violinist finds plenty to work with in the disjunct juju , makossa and zouk rhythms that give this recording its true sense of vitality.

It would be easy to take guitarist Bobby Redfield for granted. After all, the Laguna Hills resident and longtime Cal Tjader associate appears frequently at various Orange County clubs (he'll be at Steamers Cafe in Fullerton on Sept. 3) leading one of the most dependable jazz and Latin combos in Southern California.

Legitimate criticism requires at the least an open mind and sufficient knowledge to place that performer and that performance in a critical context. Both were sorely lacking in Sandy Masuo's review of the Dave Matthews Band concert at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre ("Dave Matthews Gets in a Crowd-Pleasing Jam," July 12). The DMB's massive success is not the least bit inexplicable to millions of people around the world. Matthews offers heartfelt, intelligent (if occasionally somewhat obscure)