Jazz trio will showcase a track full of surprises during its Huntington Beach concert

Musicians John Ferraro, right, and Mark Davidson will perform with the Mark Davidson Trio on Nov. 19 in Huntington Beach.

Nov. 16, 2017 8 PM PT

Mark Davidson sat before the piano in his living room, his fingers creating a mad dance of improvised jazz.

He was going after his own ideas, spontaneously creating fresh melodies with musician John Ferraro, who sculpted a swinging groove with brushes on a practice snare drum.

“When you hear it with a full drum set, you hear even more,” Davidson said. “We’re just messing around.”

Their impromptu jam was days before their upcoming concert Nov. 19 at the Rec Room in Huntington Beach where the Mark Davidson Trio — featuring Davidson, Ferraro, guitarist Ron Eschete and bassist Baba Elefante — will showcase new ways in performing familiar songs.

For “A Night in Tunisia,” Davidson and Eschete will begin the musical composition written by jazz great Dizzy Gillespie with a quiet, romantic opening, but the piece will kick up once the other players join in on the song.

Maybe it’ll end quietly with the guitar, maybe not. Whatever the outcome, it’ll be created in the moment, and that’s what keeps the performance exciting, Davidson said.

Davidson, a Santa Ana resident, has been playing jazz piano around Newport Beach since 1960, when his trio appeared at the Sea Shanty, which is now the Bluewater Grill on Lido Peninsula.

He started playing in church; his father was an Assemblies of God minister. But his first paying job was playing “Blueberry Hill” for a stripper named Shirley Lane in East L.A.

Though he’s the leader of the band, Davidson said it’s his duty to highlight the other talented musicians.

Davidson met Ferraro through musical acquaintances about three years ago. He said he was particularly impressed when he heard Ferraro play out of character.

“It really was a wonderful thing because it was, ‘I’ve got something to say here that you’ve never heard,’” Davidson said.

“You have to have your antenna up,” Ferraro said, reflecting on how jazz is freedom. “You can be creative and there’s a variety of rhythmic style and dynamic range. It’s kind of like a conversation where you’re listening and responding.”

Ferraro, a Newport Beach resident and Newport Harbor High School graduate, studied at Orange Coast College and Cal State Long Beach where he was a member of the jazz ensemble and earned top honors as an instrumentalist.

He toured domestically and internationally for Barry Manilow’s world tour and has worked with artists such as Boz Skaggs, George Benson, Debby Boone, Linda Ronstadt and Eddie Van Halen, among several others over the course of 20 years.

He is a regular drummer for Burt Bacharach, and he also was featured on Rod Stewart’s standards album.

Ferraro and Davidson said an audience is made up of all ages, ranging from college students who are studying music to a generation of people who grew up listening to jazz in concert or on the radio.

The show is an opportunity for people to experience something new and get lost in the moment, Ferraro said, adding the encounter is a different kind of energy.

“We want to get a certain amount of people who have never heard of what we’re doing,” Davidson said. “Some won’t like it at all and some people will come back.The music itself connects people. I hope they walk out with a thrill, thinking, ‘How good was that?’”