GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM ATM's Clyde Pound leads his fellow band members in some retro jazz 'n' funk for the weekend's Jazz BlowOut.

Jazz BlowOut
‘pure kicks’
for music pros

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By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

If there's one thing the annual spring Jazz BlowOut offers local participating musicians, it's a welcome change of pace from their daily jobs, even if those jobs pertain to music.

All of the guys assembled on a late Tuesday afternoon in a weathered rehearsal room at the Musicians Association building were working musicians -- guys like trombone player Patrick Hennessey, director of the University of Hawaii jazz band, who will lead the band through a Sunday evening set; and guitarist Bryan Kessler and bassist Steve Jones, who have their own recording studio businesses. Trumpeter Mike Morita and baritone saxophonist Todd Yukumoto also play in the Royal Hawaiian Band.

"And I do arranging and sequencing commercial jobs," said keyboardist Clyde Pound, the leader and arranger of ATM (a k a Anything That Moves). "For us to play this kind of music, this is pure kicks!"

Pound and the nine-piece band were working through Pound's transcriptions of music the keyboardist enjoyed in his heyday, namely fusion jazz 'n' funk dating to the '70s.

Choices like the Brecker Brothers' "Sponge" and the Crusaders' "Mud Hole" are indicative of the time when the fusing of jazz, R&B and rock was still fresh, but Pound made an unexpected call with "Dance of the Maya," the head-snapping composition by guitarist John McLaughlin.

Pound added a horn arrangement to this fusion classic that goes from a minor-chord waltz to a blues-rock vamp and back again. He said he plans to "let Bryan wail" on this number. Other soloists that will be featured throughout ATM's set will include Pound, Hennessey, drummer Scott Shafer, alto saxophonist Bill Beimes and trumpeter Garry Chun (no relation to this writer).

There will even be a nostalgic detour with a couple of compositions Pound played in a band called Tantalus back in the '70s, including a number featuring vocalist Anita Hall.

Melveen Leed and Jimmy Borges also will sing with the band during the set's latter half.

Pound is accustomed to diverse personnel configurations.

"The guys and I usually play in a band hired for conventions. Depending on the money involved and the client, the band can be anywhere from six to 12 pieces and one to four singers. We usually don't do this kind of material, as we strictly play the bread-and-butter stuff like 'La Bamba' and 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine.'"

Pound said he first came to Hawaii with Jimmy Borges in 1970 after attending college in San Francisco. He later became John Rowles' musical director, "back in the day when tours would pack the showrooms, along with Don Ho and Dick Jensen, and then there would be late-night, after-work jam sessions at places like Blue Velvet all along Waikiki.

"The local jazz scene evolved from that. There would be concerts at the old Kapiolani Park Bandstand, and a band like Ox (later Seawind) was hot at the time."

The lively times ended in the early '80s.

"There were three things that led to the steady downfall of live music in Waikiki," Jones explained. "One, the United Airlines strike in 1980; two, the popularity of disco; and, three, the Gulf War."

Originated by Jackie Ward, the Jazz BlowOut this year will be at Kapono's, at Aloha Tower Marketplace, tomorrow and Sunday.

Pound said that he and the rest of the event's advisory board -- John Kolivas, Robert Shinoda and Ernie Provencher -- decided the change in venue, from Mid-Pacific Institute, should make for "a better chance for walk-ins," and he hopes a larger audience will discover what Hawaii has to offer in jazz.

The schedule Tomorrow >> Noon: Milestone Jazz >> 1 p.m.: Jimmy and Corey Funai with the BlowOut Band >> 2 p.m.: Partners in Time (Middle Eastern jazz fusion) >> 2:30 p.m.: Rob Prester with Noel Okimoto and Ernie Provencher >> 3:30 p.m.: Rhea Fox with the BlowOut Band >> 4 p.m.: Swingin' Tradewinds Dixieland Jass Band >> 5 p.m.: Randy Skags Big Island Jazz >> 6 p.m.: Third Degree >> 7 p.m.: Ron and Victoria Artis >> 7:30 p.m.: Teresa Bright with the BlowOut Band >> 8:30 p.m.: Gabe Baltazar >> 9:30 p.m.: Honolulu Jazz Quartet >> 10:30 p.m.: Nueva Vida >> 11:30 p.m.: Bob Jones & Hard Drive >> 12:30 a.m.: Salsaloha Sunday >> Noon: Sandy Tsukiyama de Oliveira and her Brazilian Band >> 1 p.m.: Les Peetz with Rachel Gonzales and Margery Sauve >> 2 p.m.: Man Alive >> 3 p.m.: Tennyson Stephens and the City of Refuge Gospel Choir >> 4 p.m.: Azure McCall >> 5 p.m.: PBS Big Band >> 6 p.m.: ATM (Anything That Moves) >> 7 p.m.: University of Hawaii Jazz Band

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