Jazz Reviews : Johnny Griffin Gives a Lesson in Pure Sound

“Jazz Music!” exclaimed tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin with a broad smile at the conclusion of his scintillating first set at Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood on Tuesday.

It was both a statement of what Griffin and his crew--Michael Weiss (piano), Dennis Irwin (bass) and Kenny Washington (drums)--had just played as it was a joyous exultation. Griffin is of the school where jazz means one thing: pure, unadulterated cooking music where pretty notes reign.

Griffin’s five-tune set, which began a five-night engagement, opened at a near-gallop with “Just Friends” and closed with an even-faster “Hot Sake.” Sandwiched in between were Thelonious Monk’s, “Coming on the Hudson,” the enchanting Billy Strayhorn ballad “Isfahan”; and the standard, “If I Should Lose You.”

Griffin, a prodigious improviser, produced a comely, robust sound, consistently employed dynamics and displayed excellent taste. “Isfahan” was Griffin at his rhapsodic best.

The rhythm team was first-rate. Weiss, a Bud Powell disciple, turned in ace performances, Washington crackled, and Irwin played a brace of listenable essays.

Griffin is a magical musician who can take the basics of melody, harmony, rhythm and form and turn them into something beautiful and wondrous.