POP MUSIC REVIEW : Classic Blues by the Cheathams

Since the classic blues song form is a repeating 12-bar cycle with only slight harmonic variation, it takes a first-class ensemble to play a two-hour show of just about all blues tunes and make that performance kick you-know-what until the last beat drops.

Well, Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham’s Sweet Baby Blues Band proved fit to the task Wednesday at Marla’s Memory Lane, as the five-horn, three-rhythm group surged amiably through a dozen numbers--in addition to five more where it backed violinist Papa John Creach--which, while mostly in the same key of C, each had a flavor, drive and life all its own.

The chief reason for the success of this octet, which was performing as part of the weeklong Benson & Hedges Blues festival, was its obvious and ear-pleasing musicality. Pianist Jeannie Cheatham handled the vocals with aplomb, crooning softly on “In the Dark,” bursting forth on “Cherry Red.” Bass trombonist Jimmy Cheatham orchestrated the material--which also included the slow, mournful “How Long” and the perky, boogie-based “Roll ‘Em, Pete”--with verve and intelligence. He also fully utilized his crew of excellent horn players--Nolan Smith, trumpet, Curtis Peagler, alto sax, Rickey Woodard, tenor sax and clarinet, and Dinky Morris, baritone sax--to make the group sound like a small Basie unit on one tune, a zesty Hank Crawford combo the next.

The icing on this already delicious cake was that the musicians consistently soloed with imagination and pizazz, so that the lengthy middle sections of the tunes were even tastier than the beginnings and endings. Peagler, a Charlie Parker enthusiast with a ruby-red, singing sound, was a standout, playing several ace improvisations, as on “In the Dark,” where he built gradually from flowing, intricate ideas--always rhythmically well-placed--to brief, funky statements that he rode over barking horn parts from his cohorts, all to the audible delight of packed house.

Other solo high-points came from both Cheathams--Jimmy was particularly effective with mutes in place--Smith, who evidenced a fat tone a la Clifford Brown and snazzy, swinging hard bop feel, and Woodard, who scored on tenor and clarinet with powerful statements.

Creach joined the octet to close the show, coming solidly across on his poignant “Summertime,” where he never pushed the oozingly slow tempo, his tender-then-shouting reading of “Georgia on My Mind” and the brisk shuffle, “Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On.”