For This Young Musician, the Sax Is a Horn of Plenty

It has all happened quickly for Eric Marienthal. At 30, the Costa Mesa resident and member of keyboardist Chick Corea’s band has established himself as one of the hottest young saxophonists on the contemporary jazz scene.

Things started breaking Marienthal’s way in early 1987 after he met Corea while playing in Los Angeles with another keyboardist, John Novello. “We were playing every Monday night in a club called One for L.A. that was right down the street from the Baked Potato,” Marienthal said.

“One Monday night I came in, and there’s Chick sitting there. I was nervous when I got up to the mike and started playing, but it went great. He stayed for the second set and actually came up and sat in.

“A couple days later I got a call from his manager, who said they were just about to start Chick’s ‘Light Years’ album and that they’d been considering adding a saxophone to the record and asked if I’d like to be the guy. I was completely overwhelmed. It was a dream phone call.”

It wasn’t long after “Light Years” was recorded that Marienthal was approached by Dave Grusin of GRP, who had heard him with Corea and wanted Marienthal to record his own records for his label. He’s made two records so far for GRP: “Round Trip,” released this year, has reached No. 4 on the Cashbox jazz chart; “Voices of the Heart” was released the year before. Marienthal is also now a regular member of keyboardist David Benoit’s traveling unit.

Orange County jazz fans have had the chance to hear Marienthal for a long time. He has been playing at the Studio Cafe on the Balboa Peninsula Wednesday nights intermittently for six years, and he continues to do so when his travel schedule allows.

“The greatest thing about that gig is that it’s a very rare opportunity to play straight-ahead jazz,” he said. “We don’t play fusion or anything off my records. We play stuff from the ‘50s and ‘60s, sometimes more modern, but still in that straight-ahead bag. There’re very few places around that let me play that kind of music.”

And if that’s not enough to keep him busy, he also periodically appears with his own fusion group. In fact, they will be performing a free lunchtime show Wednesday at Park Place in Irvine.

On “Voices,” Marienthal played alto on tunes that seemed designed to capitalize on fellow saxophonist David Sanborn’s popularity. “Round Trip,” on which he also plays soprano, is a more involved effort.

“The second album is jazz music that has a lot of R&B; influence. I think it’s a harmonically adventurous record; it’s not a typical fusion record. It’s got a lot of interesting things on it compositionally, a little more diversity.

“It’s done really well on the radio. It’s not a weird record or anything too far out.”

Is it difficult to balance the types of music that he plays with Corea and Benoit with his own direction? “No,” he said. “When I was coming up in high school, we listened to Cannonball Adderley, Art Pepper, Charlie Parker, Coltrane and, later, fusion as it became more popular and I became more interested in that kind of stuff. But I think the roots of most jazz music, like fusion, come from studying be-bop. You get a real grasp of just how to improvise, and it’s a real base for playing most kinds of improvisational music.

“So that’s what I really enjoy. I enjoy fusion too, and I don’t think there’s a huge difference. The difference is in the way you interpret the music, not so much the way the music is created.”

Besides his solo work and his jobs with the Corea and Benoit groups, Marienthal, who is married and has two small children, is also a fixture on the Los Angeles studio scene.

“The majority of my income comes from doing TV jingles,” he said. “I really enjoy doing studio work. Though I’m going more in the direction of doing solo work, I find the studio is really a challenge. I get to play other instruments with different musicians and on different kinds of music.” Marienthal also plays flute, clarinet and piccolo as well as the tenor, alto and soprano saxophones.

“If things go well in my solo career, I imagine that it will cut into my other work. But I don’t perceive myself trying to get out of the session scene.”

It’s obvious what Marienthal considers to be his real priority. “If I’m not working, then I’m daddying.” Indeed, he was holding his 6-week-old son during the phone interview. “It can be pretty brutal when I’m traveling and not at home. Even when I’m home, I’m not around much. I’ll get up early with the kids and spend some quality time with them before driving to the studio. Or if I’m working at night, then I have the day. If I’m working both day and night, then I have to bite the bullet. But I definitely consider parenting the main thing in my life.”

Eric Marienthal and his fusion unit will play at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Park Place, 3333 Michelson Drive, Irvine. The concert is free. Information: (714) 553-1220.