Wallace Roney

From the moment Buddy Bolden--the legendary turn-of-the-century New Orleans trumpeter-- raised his horn to signal the beginnings of jazz, the instrument has been the music's bright and shining lead voice. Louis Armstrong came first, followed by the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Pretty fast company for young players arriving on the jazz scene any time in the last six or seven decades.

THE presence of DJ Val on stage Tuesday at the Jazz Bakery with trumpeter Wallace Roney's sextet let the audience know right away that the ensemble probably was going to move beyond mainstream jazz territory. That's precisely what happened.

This quintet finds the trumpeter in good company as he makes his hard bop way through "Don't Blame Me," Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma" and the like, with sinewy support by pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassist Charnett Moffett. The final cut is a ringer, "Loose," with Roney backed only by drummer Cindy Blackman and percussionist Steve Berrios. Best number is a deceptive "Giant Steps" in which the melody is diligently avoided until the final cooking chorus.

Wallace Roney kicked off his opening set at Catalina Bar & Grill on Tuesday night with a wildly virtuosic trumpet solo. Ranging with seeming effortlessness across the full scope of his instrument, he instantly revealed how far he has come since the early days of his career, when he was seen by many as a Miles Davis musical clone.

THE presence of DJ Val on stage Tuesday at the Jazz Bakery with trumpeter Wallace Roney's sextet let the audience know right away that the ensemble probably was going to move beyond mainstream jazz territory. That's precisely what happened.

What's wrong with this picture? The setting is a sound stage in Burbank. Tony Williams is at his trademark yellow drum set. Nearby, Herbie Hancock plays a Steinway grand piano, while Ron Carter plucks his bass. Wayne Shorter is there too, playing tenor saxophone, his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as he concentrates on an arrangement of his tune "Orbits." And then there's the trumpet player.

* * 1/2 Wallace Roney, "Seth Air," Muse. Many critics have awarded the late Miles Davis' mantle to Roney, and the 32-year-old trumpeter, appears to have taken the association to heart. Though Roney's assured attack and phrasing build beautifully on Davis' lyrical legacy, the material--especially those tunes by saxophonist-brother Antoine Roney (whose playing, fittingly enough, shadows Wayne Shorter)--tends to ape, rather than extend, Davis' quintet sound of the '60s.

WALLACE RONEY "Misterios" Warner Bros. * * 1/2 The perplexing problem facing trumpeter Wallace Roney has been the sometimes misleading, sometimes accurate comparison of his playing with Miles Davis. His work within the Davis tribute ensemble and its subsequent recording has only tended to underscore the dilemma. Unfortunately, despite the excellence of Roney's playing, most of the tracks here won't do much to relieve the Davis connections.

Wallace Roney kicked off his opening set at Catalina Bar & Grill on Tuesday night with a wildly virtuosic trumpet solo. Ranging with seeming effortlessness across the full scope of his instrument, he instantly revealed how far he has come since the early days of his career, when he was seen by many as a Miles Davis musical clone.

Surprisingly, Catalina's is closing out 1993 with one of the major disappointments of the year: a group led by trumpeter Wallace Roney. It's not that there is a lack of talent; it's what the members do with it. Roney was hailed here, just two years ago this week, as "the jazz front-runner in the stakes for stardom next year."

Trumpeter Wallace Roney's continuing quest to establish a visible musical presence of his own continued Thursday at Catalina Bar & Grill in the opening set of a four-night run. An early immersion in the music of Miles Davis--and, in fact, a classic performance with Davis in the '80s at the Montreux jazz festival in a re-creation of some of the classic Davis-Gil Evans works--tended to obscure Roney's own abilities for a much-too-long period in his early career.

From the moment Buddy Bolden--the legendary turn-of-the-century New Orleans trumpeter-- raised his horn to signal the beginnings of jazz, the instrument has been the music's bright and shining lead voice. Louis Armstrong came first, followed by the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Pretty fast company for young players arriving on the jazz scene any time in the last six or seven decades.

Wallace Roney's opening set at Catalina Bar & Grill Wednesday night was a testimony to the value of sheer talent. The much-praised trumpeter started late and started slow, and tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, his partner in the front line, didn't make it on stage until halfway through the first number. The result was an unfocused program, off-center here and disconnected there, a familiar example of the hazards of an opening night in a new venue.

WALLACE RONEY "Misterios" Warner Bros. * * 1/2 The perplexing problem facing trumpeter Wallace Roney has been the sometimes misleading, sometimes accurate comparison of his playing with Miles Davis. His work within the Davis tribute ensemble and its subsequent recording has only tended to underscore the dilemma. Unfortunately, despite the excellence of Roney's playing, most of the tracks here won't do much to relieve the Davis connections.

Was all the effort that went into this recording worth it? Well, yes and no. Yes, in that Davis' elite mid-'60s rhythm section comes together surprisingly well, though in different fashion than when they cut such landmark discs as "E.S.P.," "Miles Smiles" and "Nefertiti." No, in that the cool camaraderie of the originals is lost, replaced instead by a glossed over give-and-take that succeeds on individual delivery rather than on group presentation.

Miles Davis--jazz Trumpet Master, Prince of Darkness, the very symbol of improvisational adventurousness--was listening to his new, young rhythm section during a performance one night and wondering what they were doing to set his musical antenna quivering. The players were pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams, all still in their teens and 20s.

Wallace Roney's 10 years in jazz have resulted in several first-rate, post-be-bop performances. Here are six recommended titles, the most recent listed first: * "Seth Air," Muse Records. Roney's just-released solo project--his fifth for this independent New York-based label--features his brother, tenorist Antoine Roney. The siblings work out with substantial energy on such original items as the difficult "Melchizedek" and the Bacharach-David pop classic "Wives and Lovers."

** Wallace Roney, "Seth Air," Muse. Many critics have awarded the late Miles Davis' mantle to Roney, and the 32-year-old trumpeter, whose playing has until now recalled Clifford Brown as much as Davis, appears to have taken the association to heart. This recording mines Davis' quintet sound of the '60s, much as Wynton Marsalis did on his first recordings.

Surprisingly, Catalina's is closing out 1993 with one of the major disappointments of the year: a group led by trumpeter Wallace Roney. It's not that there is a lack of talent; it's what the members do with it. Roney was hailed here, just two years ago this week, as "the jazz front-runner in the stakes for stardom next year."