Jazz Reviews : Jimmy and Stacy Rowles Make Music a Family Affair

Jazz fans who can bear the echoing din of Linda’s, a loft-like eatery on trend-stricken Melrose Avenue, have a special treat in store for them on Thursday nights when the father-daughter team of Jimmy and Stacy Rowles hold court.

Aided by substitute bassist Larry Gales and joined briefly by the club’s owner, singer Linda Keegan, the two Rowleses matched wits and chops in a pair of too-short sets Thursday evening that were simply divine.

“Birk’s Works,” a tune by Dizzy Gillespie, got things going in an easily swinging tempo that provided an apt backdrop for Stacy’s understated fluegelhorn. Gales, as he would on a couple of occasions, soloed deftly by bow, with the elder Rowles gently accenting the proceedings with his poignant glimpses of melody.

“Prelude to a Kiss,” from the Ellington songbook, had the pianist working the ballad with only bass accompaniment. Though slowly paced, Jimmy implied tremendous melodic movement, his uniquely voiced harmonies supplying exceptional interest to the tune.

“Local Motif,” a tune by bassist Gales, was an oddly rhythmic piece whose muted trumpet lines by Stacy lent a ‘50s Miles Davis feeling.

But the young trumpeter is hardly a clone of Davis or any other figure in jazz. She has, in recent years, clearly come into her own. Possessing fine chops and extraordinary sensibilities (is it genetic?), she lent spirit, grace and beauty to each of her outings. None, however, was better than her reading of “Old Folks,” a gentle ballad in which daughter and father shone.

On the swing side, her muted trumpet work on “All the Things You Are” was lively and inventive.

Thursdays at Linda’s are a must for jazz fans. Go early (the sets begin at 8 p.m.) and sit close to the piano.