JAZZ REVIEW : ALMEIDA AT THE VINE ST. BAR & GRILL

Laurindo Almeida has racked up so many credits for so long--mainly as a classical virtuoso, but sometimes in the company of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Bud Shank and other jazz artists--that one expects certain qualities to come into focus wherever he takes his guitar.

Tuesday at the Vine St. Bar & Grill, he offered little evidence of the rhythmic excitement and technical mastery once associated with him.

Though she had not been billed, Almeida’s wife, the singer Delti (Dee Dee) Almeida, started the proceedings with two numbers and reappeared off and on, relegating the musicians to a backup function. Strictly an operatic soprano, she made an attempt at jauntiness with “Ridin’ High,” followed by Johnny Mercer’s “Old Guitaron.” More appropriate to her personality was “Bill.”

The instrumental numbers for the most part sounded conservative, deliberate and, all too literally, effortless. Possibly Almeida is out of practice; whatever the reason, his facility was not up to its pristine form. The material was heavy on gimmicks: Debussy and Mozart themes with a samba beat added, even an ill-advised attempt to wed Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” played by Almeida, with Monk’s “Round Midnight” by the bassist Richard Maloof.

The trio came briefly to life once or twice, mainly in a number that offered the drummer, Joe Brancato, a chance to display his deft brushwork.

Almeida might be helped by the addition of a fuller rhythm section, with a couple of percussionists and a synthesizer to provoke a stimulus that was regrettably missing in this lackluster outing.