Piano Expands Eckert’s Voice

SAN DIEGO — San Diego singer Cath Eckert has been absent from local clubs in recent months, but she hasn’t been idle. Eckert has been taking piano lessons as a means of bumping her career to a new level.

“I used to play piano in school, when I was a little girl. But I decided I was going to do a little bit more with my music,” said Eckert, who resurfaces with performances at the Horton Grand Hotel downtown on Thursday night and Espresso Literati, the La Jolla coffeehouse-bookstore, on Friday night.

Eckert, who has been hard at the piano since June, says she can already “play a mean blues.” Although she does not yet possess sufficient jazz skills to back herself, the keyboard training is having positive effects on her singing.

“I find it so easy to improvise now,” she said. “I’ve been practicing playing the notes and singing them at the same time, so it helps my ear and my improvisation. Also, I can sit down and tap out a tune and learn new tunes.

“My soloing on the piano is good, because I’ve already been soloing vocally, so I have ideas in my head that come out through my fingers. My singing is helping my piano playing.”

Eckert could barely read music before. With the help of her teacher, top San Diego pianist Joe Azarello, she is learning sight reading and music theory.

Although Eckert has not played a local club since she appeared at the Horton Grand last summer, she has been singing often.

She’s worked with big bands, including some Sunday nights with Bill Green’s Orchestra at the Hotel del Coronado. She also appeared with a jazz ensemble in Los Angeles this summer at the Harvard Man of the Year awards.

Eckert, a classy jazz singer by night, is a real joker by day. As Giggles the Clown, she entertains for children’s parties and corporate affairs. Last Saturday, she spent the day in costume at a new mall near Del Mar, and on Sunday, exercised her Bozo-ish tendencies for a corporate meeting.

Next month, Eckert will extend her theatrical repertoire when she appears as Batasha, fronting Batasha and her All Ghoul Band at a Halloween bash in Toronto. Eckert describes Batasha as “a cross between the Wicked Witch of the West and Morticia Adams.”

Meanwhile, she and her husband, bassist Chris Conner, are gearing up to record some jazz.

“Chris and I want to do a CD with some horn arrangements, and we already have some players who are interested,” she said. “And I’ve been putting lyrics to some classic old tunes, but I haven’t sung them in front of anybody yet.

“I started doing that when I had a singing telegram company in Toronto,” added Eckert, who moved to San Diego six years ago. “Writing lyrics is as close as I’ve gotten to songwriting. That’s part of the reason I want to play piano. I’d really like to write my own music.”

At the Horton Grand, Los Angeles pianist John Hammond will make his San Diego club debut with Eckert.

The two met playing a date together this summer at a Los Angeles hotel.

“She’s great, man,” said Hammond, who played piano and worked with Michelle Pfeiffer on her vocal numbers for the movie, “The Fabulous Baker Boys.”

“Aside from being a naturally good singer, I think what I like most about Cath is the fact that she is a participant in the music. A lot of singers sing really well, but they’re very premeditated, and as an accompanist, you just follow them around.

“Cath is more like a musician playing in the rhythm section, or a horn player. The only people I’ve encountered that with are Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan.”

Eckert’s Thursday night performance at the Horton Grand starts at 8:30; Friday night at Espresso Literati, music lasts from 8 until 10.

There’s nothing British anymore about the British Americans, but the band is still playing good jazz at Milligan’s Bar & Grill in La Jolla.

“The funny thing is, a lot of British people come in to hear us,” said the group’s guitarist, Joey Carano.

Ray Whittam, a British reed player, put the group together six months ago, but moved to Redwood City in Northern California in July.

Clarinet player and band member Bobby Gordon took over leadership and kept the name. The group also includes 23-year-old Carano and a cast of seasoned players such as pianist Joe Urbanec, clarinetist Benny Lagasse and bassist Vern Sivertsen.

Carano would turn to other forms of music if all he wanted was a paycheck, but he loves the traditional jazz produced by the British Americans.

“Bobby Gordon is one of my favorites,” Carano said. “In high school (at Mission Bay High) I got exposed to traditional jazz, and I’m always interested in jazz no matter what kind. I was lucky enough to sit in with Bobby at the Jazz Mine (a now-defunct hole-in-the-wall in La Jolla). Now, I play with a few Dixieland bands when they come to town.”

The British Americans’ repertoire leans heavily on standards such as “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” and “What’s New?” The group plays Thursday nights from 7 to 11 and Sunday evenings from 5 to 9. There’s no cover.

RIFFS: Saxman Dave Koz, in San Diego for last Friday night’s performance at Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay, blew a sensuous, imaginative, solo version of “Misty” live on KIFM (98.1) last Friday morning. . . .

Cath Eckert’s performance at the Horton Grand Hotel on Thursday night marks the third Thursday since the hotel added the extra night to its longtime Friday and Saturday night jazz schedule. Thursday nights during October will feature a mix of local and national acts, including a tribute to Art Blakey led by saxman Javon Jackson Oct. 8 to 10, which opens on a Thursday night. Eventually, the hotel plans to add Wednesday night jazz too.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

ROGERS BLOWS INTO TOWN

Fluegelhorn player Shorty Rogers is best known as a founding father of West Coast Jazz, the cool sound that flourished in Los Angeles during the 1940s and 1950s.

But Rogers, 67, has moved into new territory. He switched from trumpet to fluegelhorn 10 years ago, and he has a multi-album deal with Candid, a London label. His second release for Candid, “Eight Brothers,” is due out this fall and features Rogers with Bud Shank and the Lighthouse All Stars. Last February, Rogers and some fellow former Lighthouse regulars played to a packed house at the Horton Grand Hotel downtown.

This Friday and Saturday, Rogers returns with saxophonists Bob Cooper and Joe Romano, pianist Lou Levy, bassist Bob Magnusson and drummer Larance Marable--all Lighthouse veterans. Music starts at 8:30 both nights. There’s a $10 cover charge.