Jazz Pianist Alex Bugnon Makes Rare Southern California Apppearance

*Keyboardist Alex Bugnon made a rare west coast swing last week – one stop at Yoshi’s in northern California, and one stop at Spaghettini in southern California – the latter from which was culled the following review. Following time spent with the likes of saxophonist Najee, Swiss-born Bugnon (pronounced ‘boon-yone’) debuted as a leader in 1988 with the album, Love Season. It landed him a hit out of the box on the urban contemporary jazz/Quiet Storm scene, with later releases remaining soulful but laidback enough to deposit him in the smooth jazz lane. He has released over a dozen albums thus far and has been a dependable veteran on the scene in venues that still support contemporary jazz, as well as numerous festivals and cruises. On Friday, April11 at restaurant lounge Spaghettini in Seal Beach, Bugnon worked with the attention-grabbing rhythm section of electric bassist Byron Miller (world renowned for his work with George Duke, Roy Ayers and Santana) and New York-based drummer Poogie Bell (of Marcus Miller fame plus many more R&B artists). Following a ‘getting to know you’ chat with venue manager David Cantrell, Bugnon began with the warmup piece, “Southern Living,” which set a welcoming mood for the beginning of the weekend. This was followed by “Pecan Tree,” a mystical samba of soft to smokin’ dynamics and featuring a fiery solo by Alex that let all know he truly came to play. Alex then shared that the next song would be dedicated to the spirit of Isaac Hayes, the legendary soul man who started out as a pianist, songwriter and arranger for many artists at Stax Records in Memphis. Interestingly, Alex’s song, “Harlem on My Mind,” reflected more of Hayes’ work when he was scoring films such as “Shaft” and “Truck Turner.” Following a solo piano intro punctuated with several soulful stabs, the trio dove heads first into the groove which also had smacks of James Brown and even a quote from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” It was on “Harlem” that bassist Miller took his first solo of the night moving from his signature ‘talkin’ to ya’ approach into some way-out distortion effects.

Fourth was “Night Groove” which felt like a flip on keyboardist Rodney Franklin’s 1980 classic “The Groove” mashed up with Philip Bailey’s “Children of the Ghetto” – sounding nothing like the version on Alex’s 2001 CD, Soul Purpose! Also distinguishing this detour was the evening’s first taste of ‘Poogie…unleashed’ as the drummer tore into his drums as if he was bound and determined to win at something on Play Station. Alex mellowed things out next with a reverent take on the Luther Vandross arrangement of Bacharach & David’s “A House is Not a Home,” also paying homage to Luther’s co-arranger Nat Adderley Jr., taking things to church. Among Alex’s greatest influences was acoustic piano/Fender Rhodes master Joe Sample. He shared the poignant story of a pneumonia-stricken Sample once requesting Alex to sub for him on a gig in Oakland in 2013. The audience initially was quite unhappy. Alex assured them that he would solely play Sample and Crusaders songs that night as he was a hero of his. After the show, the audience wasn’t disappointed…and Alex won himself a new set of fans. On this night in Seal Beach, Alex and the trio played Sample’s “Spellbound,” a good luck charm for the artist and the audience since Alex has vowed to always include at least one of Sample’s songs in any concert he plays. Ever since the band WAR introduced the now-epic song “The World is a Ghetto” in 1972, there have been a plethora of covers – some taken at the bluesy vibe of the original and others taking the melody on magic carpet rides of faster tempos. Not only did Alex take the song at a nice mid-tempo gallop, he added a lot more chord progressions to further build the drama. He also unleashed Poogie once again to solo over the familiar changes of the chorus to 4-alarm effect.

Alex closed the set with his 1991 burner “107 Degrees in The Shade” from which the band suddenly dropped the audience off into the F U N K of George Duke’s “Reach for It” – a jam that put bassist Miller on the map back in 1977. And ‘B’ is steady letting folks know that soul sheriff is still town throwin’ down on ‘The 1.” Men of some maturity don’t take kindly to actually leaving the stage only to come back for the obvious encore they have earned. So, Alex asked all to pretend that they did, then launched into that first hit from his debut, Love Season: a rousing cover of The GAP Band’s “Yearning for Your Love.” For good measure, he included a nod to the melody of Motown group DeBarge’s sweet “Stay with Me” (later sampled by Brooklyn’s own The Notorious B.I.G. on “One More Chance”). Alex Bugnon continues to be a people pleaser while retaining his credibility as a versatile, ‘for-real’ player. Concert Review and Photographs by A. Scott Galloway

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