JAZZ REVIEWS : GUITARIST EUBANKS AT PALACE COURT

The 29-year-old guitarist Kevin Eubanks is the Wes Montgomery of the space age. Though only 10 when Montgomery died, Eubanks clearly was inspired by his records.

Opening his two-night stint Friday at the Palace Court, Eubanks subjected an old Montgomery tune, “Trick Bag,” to an elongated workout. Like his mentor, he scorns the use of a pick. Hitting down strokes with the thumb matched by four fingers pulling the strings on the up strokes, he achieves a phenomenal dynamism.

Eubanks built immediate tension with the support of Rael Grant on electric bass and Gene Jackson on drums. Suspenseful chords led to a series of bass and drum breaks; later, he alternated seemingly infinite strings of single-note lines with some of the most complex chording ever heard on the instrument.

Miles Davis’ “Nardis” was upgraded into a lengthy display of three-way virtuosity. Jackson’s total awareness of where the accents fall is commendable, but his inability at times to keep the clangor down is regrettable. When the backing did not obtrude, it was intriguing to observe his complex charting of an unpredictable path through the normally familiar territory of “Nardis” and of Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance.”

“Opening Night,” a Eubanks original, offered a reminder that the trio setting has its limits; on the recorded version Branford Marsalis’ saxophone was a vital element.

Eubanks’ fast workout on a Charlie Parker blues, “Relaxin’ at Camarillo,” revealed a certain tendency toward harshness in his sound; he rarely mellowed out as he has on his LPs in a few acoustic guitar numbers.

Grant’s bass work was most effective when he indulged in a cascading octave unison passage with Eubanks, a ploy that drew shouts and applause.

Although he suffers in person from the inability to duplicate his recorded achievements (some of which, in fact, involve overdubbing), Eubanks leaves no doubt about his stature as one of the two most important additions (along with Stanley Jordan) to today’s guitar scene.