Beat Goes On

During the ‘60s and ‘70s, while drummer Tom Rainey was growing up and learning his art, Santa Barbara had nothing comparable to the Jazz Hall.

In its two-plus years in existence--sometimes a fragile existence--the club, despite its modest size, has hosted some internationally noted jazz musicians.

So there was some sense of poetic justice that Rainey, who has become one of the most intriguing and respected jazz drummers on the New York scene, had his first gig there on Friday.

It was a homecoming of sorts for the drummer, who is now something of a stranger except in the minds of those who remember him from 20 years ago or who have followed his quiet trajectory into jazz’s upper ranks.

The quartet that Rainey led at Jazz Hall also served to showcase some of the impressive talent in our midst, particularly in the person of pianist Theo Saunders, who acted as the de facto “musical director.”

Saunders, who used to play once a week with his trio, has been all too absent on the local scene lately, although he shows up at California 66 in Ventura.

Bassist Chris Symer and L.A.-based saxophonist Doug Webb supplied their own firm foundation and improvisational skills Friday, but you couldn’t escape the feeling that most ears were cocked toward the drum chair.

Rainey didn’t disappoint. Even on a casual, flung-together and rehearsal-free date such as this, he brought fascinating musicality to both roles--as soloist and support player. Rainey, whose resume includes ongoing work with Fred Hersch, Jane Ira Bloom, Kenny Werner, Dave Douglas--in the great little group New and Used--and longtime cohort Tim Berne, may not be everyone’s idea of an all-purpose drummer.

He is a player who swerves between avant-garde notions and a mainstream sensibility, and when he plays, the smell of invention is in the air. His brain won’t stop and he coaxes a shifting array of sounds from his kit, rather than allowing swing hypnosis to take effect.

He’s got a wide lexicon of rhythm to draw upon. On Thelonious Monk’s “Pannonica,” Rainey offered up a loose and airy groove, punctuating with a few witty left hooks and askew accents.

Then, on Saunders’ Eddie Harris-like blues-funk tune “Opus Pocus,” Rainey’s pulse was thick and sweaty, a sort of splashily undulant Crescent City feeling with a restless undercurrent.

On his typically creative solo, Rainey took it down to half-time and built upward and outward. Later, Saunders laid down an intro to the ballad “Darn That Dream,” and Rainey entered from a cock-eyed angle, unexpected yet refreshing. That’s Rainey’s gift in a nutshell. It’s a different drummer thing.

Capping off a week in his old hometown, Rainey played in a trio with Saunders and Symer at SOhO last night, and then was off to the Saalfelden Festival in Austria over the weekend, to play with guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel in a program cheekily called “I Never Played With Miles.”

Of course, Europe is a second home for Rainey, and the West Coast, a nostalgic dream. Y’all come back now, hear?

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HORNS OF PLENTY: Let us now praise that oft-neglected source of color in the orchestral palette, that of the French horn. This weekend, horn players from far and wide will descend on UCSB for the triennial American Horn Competition.

The solo horn competition, the only such event in North America, will include performances, clinics and competitions throughout Labor Day weekend. At 9 o’clock Friday night, the German natural horn ensemble Sonneurs de Venerie will perform, as will other horn players throughout the weekend.

* American Horn Competition, Friday at 7 p.m., with performance at 9 p.m. by Sonneurs de Venerie at UCSB’s Music Building, with other performances through the weekend. Tickets are $7.50, $10 for a day pass, $15 for the weekend. (805) 968-6853.