Sahl’s Quips, McPartland’s Chords Meld at Jazz Bakery

Pianist Marian McPartland seemed in a particularly humorous mood Wednesday on the opening night of a three-night run at the Jazz Bakery. She dedicated John Coltrane’s “Red Planet” to Dennis Rodman, and Chick Corea’s “Windows” to Bill Gates. Before playing a certain Duke Ellington theme, she claimed that Lawrence Welk always called the tune “Take a Train.”

That McPartland followed comedian Mort Sahl, on his first night of a summer-long string of Wednesday-through-Sunday appearances at the Bakery (some nights on double bills with jazz acts), probably had something to do with it. The gracious host of National Public Radio’s long-running “Piano Jazz” series has been known to wield a few self-deprecating quips or tell a funny story or two on the air. In a sense, Sahl, as he did for Dave Brubeck, Stan Kenton and others in the ‘50s and ‘60s, had just spent nearly an hour warming up the near-capacity audience on her behalf.

The pianist’s performances were of a more serious nature. McPartland has a knack for drawing together attractive tunes from various generations, as witnessed here by her leap from Ellingtonia to Corea, and presenting them in new, harmonically inventive ways. She gave classical touches to Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are,” and a winsome, postmodern feel to Billy Strayhorn’s cocktail-colored “Lush Life.”

McPartland, who at 78 probably has played a tune like Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train” hundreds of times, seemed intent on giving each number a personal imprint. Her “ ‘A’ Train” moved modestly and with sentiment while Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” featured right- and left-hand counterpoints that followed a thick bed of two-handed chords. Her graciousness could be felt in her original composition “Twilight World.”

She solicited two requests from the audience and came up with “Stella by Starlight” and “On Green Dolphin Street.” In a seemingly impromptu medley, she wove the songs together so tightly it was hard to tell where one stopped and the other began. Her haunting, minor-key treatment of “Green Dolphin Street” was the evening’s moody high point.

Sahl mixed his stinging social commentary--liberals were a favorite target--with riffs on his experiences with such jazz greats as Kenton, Brubeck and Paul Desmond. He twice bragged that he was there when Brubeck stole drummer Joe Morello from McPartland’s band during the 1950s. Sahl’s musician stories--history told with a certain rhythm and an eye for the absurd--rang well in this concert room that has hosted so much jazz.

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* Marian McPartland and Mort Sahl appear at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City, tonight at 8 and 10, $35. Sahl continues Saturday, 8:30 and 10 p.m., $25, and Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m. $20. (310) 271-9039.