Woody Allen turns out for rare LA gig
( 2001-08-09 16:08 ) (7 )

Woody Allen, who once complained that the only cultural advantage to Los Angeles was that you could make a right turn on a red light, made the city the venue for a rare musical appearance this week.

The filmmaker, on the road to promote his new film, "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion," brought his jazz band, Eddy Davis & His New Orleans Jazz Band, here for their first-ever Los Angeles concert on Tuesday.

Fronted by Allen on clarinet, the band took its show to the Jazz Bakery in Culver City before some 200 eager fans, including actors Dom DeLuise, Ben Stiller, Jason Lee and Adam Goldberg.

Allen, who mopped his brow throughout the set, played a breathy clarinet for some 50 minutes of Dixieland style, toe-tapping jazz tunes like "After You've Gone" and "In Good Old New York."

Between songs, Allen would lean over and whisper to bandleader Eddy Davis to "keep it going." Then the director known for churning out a film a year would launch into another tune.

Allen, dressed in a loose-fitting brown shirt, beige pants and shiny brown patent leather shoes, followed the short concert with an equally brief encore with Davis onstage.

Allen spoke only briefly to introduce the band, explaining, "I want to get these few words in, in the event I die of heat prostration."

He explained that the band nearly disintegrated when its trombonist quit that morning. "Our usual trombonist, who plays with us in New York, came to his senses this morning and bolted," Allen said.

Comedian Mort Sahl served as an opening act, calling Allen "extremely selfless" in his films.

Allen's new film opens Aug. 24 from DreamWorks. It stars Dan Aykroyd, Helen Hunt, Charlize Theron, Wallace Shawn, David Ogden Stiers and Elizabeth Berkley.

The film, Allen's 35th as director or writer, is about an insurance investigator in New York in 1940 who is given access to the minds of criminals through the hypnotic power of the Jade Scorpion.

Since teaming with DreamWorks on his films, Allen has taken a more public part in promotions. Though he rarely leaves New York, Allen has been traveling over the last month on an unprecedented press tour.

He and his co-stars were all at Hollywood's famous steakhouse Musso & Frank on Monday for a private party with reporters.

The restaurant, a hot spot for stars of past decades, features red Leatherette booths and wood-paneled walls fitting the era in which Allen's movie is set. And Allen was a gracious host, chatting to reporters about his career, films and jazz music.