Saxophonist Houston Person frees the soul at Keys Jazz Bistro

Houston Person is not the kind of saxophonist who wins jazz critics’ polls. He has never been described as “avant-garde”, “pioneering” or “revolutionary”. Instead, he exemplifies, across hundreds of albums, as a sideman and leader since the late 1950s, the populist mainstream of jazz at its most pleasantly soulful.

Best known for his work on combo organs and as an eloquent foil for some of jazz’s finest singers, particularly the late Etta Jones, the 89-year-old tenor is a genial lion in winter whose singing has lost none of its sound. courage. and grace. In town last week for a series of concerts organized by Oakland pianist Joe Warner, Person returns to perform at Healdsburg Jazz Festival Free Juneteenth Celebration on June 15 and at Half Moon Bay Bach Dance & Dynamite Society on June 16, two dates with Person2Person, a quintet he co-leads with alto saxophonist Eric Person (no relation).

For his first set Friday night at Keys Jazz Bistro in North Beach, Houston Person was joined by bass master Essiet Essiet and veteran drummer Greg Hutchinson, the latter in town from Rome, Italy, for these shows with Warner. The pianist opened the evening with two detailed arrangements for the trio. A stop-and-start rendition of “My Funny Valentine” transformed the ballad into a metrical obstacle course, while Warner’s left hand revealed Cole Porter’s dark, obsessive vision in “All of You,” a piece which is a plea for a restraining order.

With Person’s arrival on the scene, the aesthetic took a 180-degree turn from conceptual guidelines to swing drama. Levitated by Hutchinson’s brushwork, the saxophonist’s whispered rendition of “My Foolish Heart” distilled Victor Young’s melody down to its aching essence. Person was equally effective rocking out “Our Day Will Come,” streamlining the bossa nova groove of Ruby & the Romantics’ 1963 hit.

Person gave another masterclass in understatement on Jule Styne’s “People,” a molasses ballad rendition that caressed every melodic contour. Closing the set with a blues from the late, great tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, Person made a point of introducing Hutchinson, a trap poet whose concise, lackluster solo summed up an evening of relaxed virtuosity.