San Diego's McPherson explains dearth of local shows

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 13, 2008 1:01 PM PST ∞

As veteran bebop saxophonist Charles McPherson sees it, there are two communities of jazz musicians in San Diego County. There are those who live here and play around town regularly, ranging from young unknowns trying to establish a reputation, to world-class players such as Bob Magnusson, Mike Wofford, Gilbert Castellanos, Karl Denson and Peter Sprague, who just happen to live locally and play where they can in their hometown when they're not playing elsewhere.

Then there are those musicians who are well-known in jazz circles around the globe who live in San Diego yet rarely play here despite an active performance schedule elsewhere ---- heavyweights such as saxophonist James Moody or guitarist Mundell Lowe.

McPherson places himself in that last group.

"I make sure I don't market myself that way. I work here once a year, twice maybe, and I ask for the price I want."

But McPherson isn't anti-San Diego in any way ---- he just doesn't want to work for a discount to play locally, and points out that his brand of bop jazz has a larger following on the East Coast than it does out here.

"That's OK; that's just the way it goes," he said of his infrequent San Diego gigs. "You have a bunch of young players who need to work, anyway."

In fact, while San Diego County is positively awash in live jazz today, with several dozen restaurants, clubs and bars hosting jazz in the county each week, McPherson said that when he arrived in town in 1978, there might have been more clubs hosting nationally known jazz musicians then than there are today, citing the Blue Parrot and Elario's, both in La Jolla, plus "a couple places downtown."

McPherson ended up in San Diego when he came to visit his mother, who had lived here since the late 1950s, having followed her sisters out from Missouri, where McPherson was born.

"I'm an only child and she was getting on and I only saw her when I could get to the West Coast because I was out of New York. So I came out to hang out with her for a couple of months, and I ended staying."

Interestingly, it was only the desire to be able to be with his mother that led to McPherson's decision ---- he said he was never seduced by the locale or the climate.

"The weather ended up not having anything to do with it. Certainly not the scene, musically ---- because I was very happy in New York. Even today, New York is the place to be, even if for no other reason than the networking.

"In fact, when I moved out here I did experience not working as much because of Europe being closer to New York," he said, explaining that he works his travel expenses into the fee he charges concert promoters, and getting to Europe from San Diego costs a lot more than flying direct from the East Coast.

While a handful of younger jazz musicians have either grown up or put down roots in San Diego and ended up staying here rather than moving on ---- Sprague and Castellanos come to mind ---- others have left town for cities with more active jazz communities. Trumpeter James Zollar, keyboardist Robert Walter and bassist Michael Blanco are just some of the better-known young jazz lions who grew up here but now live in New Orleans, New York or elsewhere. The staying vs. leaving dilemma, McPherson said, can only be solved by each musician asking himself what he wants out of his music career.

"It depends on what kind of vision you have for yourself," he explained. "What kind of particular music life do you want to have? There is more than one kind. Some people will be willing, maybe, if they want this international type of career, to do the things you have to do to make that happen. Some people will still engage in music, but maybe you have a family, maybe you have four kids, and it's not worth it to them. They still want music, it's their passion, but they're not willing to travel.

"The thing that concerns me, and always has, is that jazz music ---- and in particular, maybe, the genre that I play --- has never been and is not now totally accepted by a lot of people. It's always an alternative thing on the side, an esoteric thing some people like, most people don't.

"Knowing that, that means you have to really be very lucky, very artful in how you deal with your career, very balanced and organized in how you want to make a living in a world that really cares nothing for what you're doing."

Charles McPherson

When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Feb. 16

Where: Anthology, 1337 India St., San Diego

Tickets: $16-$48

Info: (619) 595-0300 or anthologysd.com

Web: charlesmcpherson.com

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.