I saw Joe Lovano and Gonzalo Rubalcaba Saturday night at a theatre in Torrance. The Marsee Auditorium is rather huge for a community college campus, but I figure the planning must have involved the townsfolk, and plans for concerts such as this. The auditorium was pretty much full. Other events at this theatre, this season, include: Kitty Margolis, Steve and Mrs. Allen, The Mingus Big Band, The Watts Prophets, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Standord String Quartet, and Ad Vielle Que Pourra.

The audience covered the whole spectrum age-wise. Considering this community, a conservative area, working-class roots, a respect for the arts, I'd say it was well represented. There's been talk lately about just who supports jazz these days, and of course your theatre audience may differ from your club audienc. This audience had a lot of old folks, white hair, lovely couples, and very polite during the performance. This contrasted with my Sunday night club thrill, where I was the oldest person in the place and there was one point where the saxophonist, Brandon Fields, had to "shush" some guy in the front row twice.

Lovano and Rubalcaba both wore lightweight jackets with T-shirts. They played material from Flying Colors, which I have and like. It's not music for everyone. It leans more toward the classical side of music than, say Lovano's Sinatra tribute. Lovano moves from the saxophone microphone to the drum set, includes three gongs in his set, and plays the tenor, soprano, and alto clarinet. He didn't have that straight tenor with him. Interestingly, Joe uses a microphone set just below chest level. You know how tenor players always use a microphone set low and it picks up the sound coming out of the bell? Well, Joe has this mic set up high. I figure it's because (in his natural enthusiasm) he moves up and down while playing the horn. So the mic has to be able to pick up sound as Joe goes way up high and back down. What a hard worker he is, sweat dripping off his nose every time he faces downward.

Of course, ya gotta say that the live event is superior to the recording. Watching Joe play the drums was a treat. He's probably trained formally, but his rolls aren't crisp or anything. Still, he knows his way around the set and plays as well as many of the drummers I've seen. Watching him play tenor with the left hand and gongs with the right was a treat too.

Gonzalo? He's a master. Wears his hair short now, like a five o'clock shadow. Handsome dude, shorter than Joe. He and Joe do the eye contact thing all through the performance, and it's great. They work well together.