JAZZ REVIEW : Akiyoshi and Trio at Vine St.

Seven years have flown by since Toshiko Akiyoshi returned to New York, ending the decade-long Southland residency that had brought her to poll-winning eminence as composer, arranger and band leader. Now heard all too rarely with an orchestra, she opened Wednesday at the Vine St. Bar & Grill leading a trio.

More correctly, she opened solo, since her drummer had not arrived. This enabled her to remind us of the unaccompanied power and drama she can bring to “The Village,” a 5/4 composition she has been playing for 25 years. Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” offered her a chance to enrich the song’s already opulent harmonic nature.

With Eddie Marshall now manning the drums and Ned Mann on bass, pianist Akiyoshi embarked on a series of pieces the three have obviously played often together. A bopish tune at odds with its romantic title, “I Know Who Loves You,” reflected the perennial Bud Powell image that has been part of her persona ever since she was a teen-ager in Japan studying the bop pioneer’s records.

“American Ballad” was a handsome revision of a song written for Britt Woodman, who played trombone in her West Coast band. Woodman being an Ellington alumnus, Akiyoshi tailored this piece along Duke-ish lines.

Although she is anything but a funk pianist, Akiyoshi invested Dizzie Gillespie’s “Con Alma” with strong, soulful rhythmic insights. Finally there was another trio version of an early orchestral number, the piquant “Notorious Tourist From East.”

Marshall and Mann were consistently supportive as this unique jazz pioneer belied her bashful personality with an hour of creative, innovative mainstream sounds. She closes Saturday.