JAZZ REVIEW : WINKLER: THE CLASSIC SINGING SONGWRITER

Singer Mark Winkler’s best asset may be the fact that he has a minimum of technique and a maximum of style--a classic singing songwriter. His opening set at Bon Appetit on Saturday night was light on traditional vocal skills but strong in the more basic values of storytelling and communication.

Winkler’s first two recordings quickly established his identification with the rapidly emerging new West Coast jazz fusion movement. He confirmed that image Saturday with a program rich in fusion-style pieces--including a lyricized version of the Rippingtons’ “She Likes to Watch”--and a backup group featuring drummer Tony Morales (also from the Rippingtons).

Sounding at times like a paraphrase of Al Jarreau, at others like a harder-edged Michael Franks, Winkler didn’t really emerge on his own until he sang a surprisingly traditional-sounding song from his second album titled “Kelly’s Moods.”

With just a whisper of Hoagy Carmichael coloring his interpretation, he worked in familiar late-night bar-room style, a storyteller who’s seen it all.

Winkler was almost as good on the whimsical lyrics and hard-swinging rhythms of the Jon Hendricks-like “Busted for Boppin’ ” and even better on the floating fusion lines of “Ebony Rain” and “Garden of Earthly Delights” (with some slightly punkish assistance from singer Beth Lawrence).

Curiously, however--especially since Winkler is so much a musician’s singer--he received only erratic support from a backup group that seemed far more focused on reading music and adjusting amplifier pickups than in interacting with their lead performer.