Beating the Drum Freely

As a teenager in Tulsa, Okla., Washington Rucker got his first job playing drums with blues man Jimmy “Cry Cry” Hawkins. Then he played some jazz with saxophonist Harry Pettiford. Later still, he kept time for prime R & B acts like Stevie Wonder and the Supremes in the house band at Washington’s Howard Theater.

With this diverse musical background, it makes sense that on Rucker’s recently released debut album, “Bridging the Gap,” he offers a mix of tunes, touching on both straight-ahead jazz and more pop-leaning numbers that might be called “smooth jazz.”

“I don’t consider myself a jazz musician,” said Rucker, who has lived in Los Angeles since 1966. “I consider myself a musician who plays jazz. I’ll also play country and western, Dixieland, R & B. When you lock yourself into one style, you live or die by that label, and I like to eat too well.”

Tonight at Chadney’s, Rucker leads his trio, featuring emotive, fluid-lined pianist Jon Mayer. Jazz will be the call. In spite of all the other sounds he’s played, the improvisation-based art form remains the favorite of the drummer known for his crisp beat and attentive accents.

“Jazz is the ultimate musical freedom,” the animated, youthful-looking 60-year-old said. “It allows you to do any and everything you want to do and still be legitimate. When you’re working with a good bebop piano player like Jon, who can paint pictures, then you can add various colors and be part of it.”

The whole point of the jazz performance, Rucker said, is constancy and authenticity. A core factor is having good time, which means that when you set a tempo “you should be able to come back tomorrow and it will still be there,” he said, smiling.

Good time leads to the “groove”--that rhythmic feeling “that permeates the whole band and reaches audiences,” Rucker said. “It comes from the heart, and you know when you touch somebody: It could be the shake of a head or the blink of an eye.”

Rucker’s band will play pop standards, jazz classics and an original or two, and there will be the occasional twist. “I like surprises,” he said. “The music lends itself to that.”

The drummer recalled an instance when he was playing with Hampton Hawes, the L.A.-based pianist who touched many a listener, when something completely unexpected happened.

“We were playing a tune and suddenly Hamp wanted me and bassist Carole Kaye to drop out,” he said.

“Then he went on and played 45 minutes of unaccompanied, stride piano. This was something he used to do when he was in [prison in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s on drug charges]. In jazz, you might be moved by an emotion or a memory, and it has to come out; you can’t censor it. That’s what I mean by freedom.”

Rucker, like many artists, can’t count on music for his living. He has a bachelor’s degree in history and works as a cosmetologist.

He also occasionally appears in films--he had on-screen appearances in Martin Scorcese’s “New York, New York” and Clint Eastwood’s “Bird”--and in TV commercials.

Still, a life in music has been fruitful for Rucker. Besides his live performances, he has recorded with Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt. One way he gives back is to conduct informal sessions for schoolchildren.

He originated a program in Los Angeles for the International Assn. of Jazz Appreciation and he’s now a central cog in Jazz Goes to School, conducted by the Los Angeles Jazz Society.

“You have to work on the kids’ level, so I may take a song from a popular cartoon show and get them to understand the beat, maybe pat their feet, clap their hands,” he said of his programs.

“Then I might have them hum along with the melody. Getting kids interested is the only way to keep jazz alive.”

BE THERE

Washington Rucker plays tonight starting at 9 at Chadney’s, 3000 W. Olive St., Burbank. No cover, one drink minimum per show. (818) 843-5333.