JAZZ REVIEW : Seven Trombones at Alfonse’s

Alfonse’s in Toluca Lake became Trombone City when the bandstand was given over to an 11-man ensemble by that name. Dave Wells, a vastly underrated trombonist and arranger long active on the local scene, has done the impossible. How can an orchestra sustain any level of interest when it consists of nothing but seven trombones and a rhythm section?

Wells has found several solutions: Write for the horns as if they were two or three different sections; use two bass trombones to provide a broader tonal span; hire soloists who lend their personal touch; bring the back-up members--piano, guitar, bass, drums--in and out in every conceivable permutation.

These devices produced results Monday night that were as stirring on the up-tempo works--such as Wells’ “Goin’ All Out”--as they were original and ingenious on the ballads. An arrangement of “Here’s That Rainy Day,” opening with a gentle guitar solo by Joe Jewel, moved into a tricky passage that found Wells’ rich seven-pile carpet of sound treading fearlessly through bars of 3/4 and 4/4.

Most of the trombonists, aside from their impeccable teamwork, are first-rate soloists, particularly Wells himself and Louis Bonilla, who delivered a long and phenomenal outburst in Wells’ arrangement of a Bob Florence tune, “Carmelo’s by the Freeway.”

An original by the band’s fleet pianist, Paul Moer, oddly entitled “Song of the Centzontle,” provided a relaxed Latin beat for solos by Alex Iles and Roy Wiegand.

Wells has long maintained a library for this band (including a five-movement, 40-minute suite), but this is his first public appearance with the group in five years. Judging by the results Monday, and the audience reaction, he would be wise to keep it together and find a record deal.