JAZZ REVIEW : Bohanon Leads Group at Webster’s

George Bohanon, a spirited and inventive trombonist, is leading the regular Thursday night group at Webster’s, a restaurant at Grand Avenue and 9th Street that is becoming known as a new gathering place for jazz aficionados. The room offers jazz from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays as well as Sunday sessions from 5 to 9 p.m.

Bohanon was supported Thursday by Bennie Maupin, a powerful tenor saxophonist known for his work with McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. Together they formed an impelling front line on such familiar standards as “Walkin’,� “Blue Bossa� and that seemingly ubiquitous jam session standard, “Softly As in a Morning Sunrise.�

Impressive though the two were with their hard-bop excursions, and despite admirable support by Richard Reid on bass and Harold Mason on drums, the scene-stealer was Eric Reed, an amazing pianist who recently graduated from Cal State Northridge.

Nineteen-year-old Reed not only has formidable techniques but also the knowledge and bop-rooted sensitivity to back it up. At times he almost suggested a reincarnation of Bud Powell, the seminal bopper who died four years before Reed was born. At other points his two-fisted chordal approach indicated a personality that transcends imitation.

Reed will be back at Webster’s Sunday leading his own quartet, under the aegis of the International Assn. of Jazz Appreciation. His is a name that is bound to reach prominence very early in the 1990s.