JAZZ REVIEW : FOUR MASTER MUSICIANS PERFORM AT PALACE COURT

Four of the most remarkable musicians in town could all be found under the same roof Thursday evening: alto saxophonist Frank Morgan, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist David Williams and drummer Billy Higgins, performing at the Palace Court. They had been working together as a unit off and on, long enough for Higgins to have learned every rhythmic nuance in the statement of each theme.

The set opened with Walton offering two original trio numbers, “Bremond’s Blues” and “Fiesta Espanol.” In the former, his boppish left-hand punctuation added urgency to the crisply articulate weavings of his darting right hand. In the Latin-tinged “Fiesta” he switched to forceful two-fisted chords. Fighting an inadequate keyboard, Walton won literally hands down.

Frank Morgan was then introduced to demonstrate how far he has moved beyond his original Charlie Parker sound. In fact, his opening number, “So What,” was written two years after Bird died, and involved rhythmically convoluted passages that would have dazzled Parker himself. But Morgan’s mastery of the ballad form was no less moving, as “Easy Living” made eloquently clear.

Going from strength to strength, Morgan poured out his soul in a slow blues heavy with going-to-Kansas-City grief. He returned to primal bebop values in a searing “Night in Tunisia.”

David Williams turned “On the Trail” into a virtual concerto for bass that matched both Morgan and Walton in sheer audacity, technical finesse and invention. The masterful backup and solo contributions of Billy Higgins added just the right ingredient to pull this unique quartet together. This was, in short, state-of-the-art 1987 acoustic jazz. That the group could only stay in town two nights was regrettable; that it will return soon for a longer booking is a foregone conclusion.