JAZZ REVIEW : Ed Shaughnessy Quintet Opens

The Ed Shaughnessy Quintet opened a four-day run Wednesday at St. Mark’s, the restaurant at 23 Windward Ave. in Venice where a jazz policy was recently instituted.

The group has several advantages by virtue of its very nature: It is acoustic, mainstream, has a first-rate upright bass player, features mainly original compositions and boasts a well knit two-horn blend consisting of Shaughnessy’s colleagues from the “Tonight Show” band, Tommy Peterson on tenor saxophone and Bruce Paulson on trombone.

To top it all off, the leader is a sensitive and a discreet drummer who managed to get through an entire set without playing a single solo--an achievement that must be considered nothing short of heroic.

The opening, “Seaward,” named for a ship on which the group recently played a jazz cruise, was composed by the pianist Tom Ranier, who distinguished himself throughout as a fleet soloist and resourceful arranger. His rewrite of “Just Friends” was an admirable example of teaching old melodic dogs new tricks. Ranier had the stage to himself for a medley of a ballad, “Don’t Take Your Love From Me,” and an engaging original, “Harpo.”

Peterson, somewhat lackluster at first on tenor, came to life in his own Latinesque “Another Time, Another Place.” Paulson, a schooled and inventive trombonist, shared top honors with the exemplary bassist John Leitham.

Because of the room’s odd construction--it is shaped like an inverted U, with the bandstand in the northwest corner--there are problems with sound and audibility. Ranier’s solo spot went almost unnoticed because of audience buzz. With such restrained artists as Barney Kessel and Joe Pass on the schedule, St. Mark’s will have to take prompt steps to deal with this difficulty.