JAZZ REVIEW : Abercrombie Trio Delivers a Model of Contemporary Improvisation

State-of-the-art jazz was blooming all over the place Sunday night at Santa Monica’s At My Place. The John Abercrombie Trio--with Marc Johnson on bass and Peter Erskine on drums--linked the music’s present and past in a program that was a virtual model of contemporary improvisation.

There wasn’t a moment that misfired. The sometimes too-abstract style that guitarist Abercrombie displayed on his last visit to Los Angeles now has evolved into a unique personal perspective that is as effective for standards as it is for contemporary fusion. His solos ranged from long, breathless lines on the opening “Sweet and Lovely” to a soaring chorus on “Jumpin’ In,” sparkling with rhythmic accents that spun and whirled around Johnson’s bass lines.

But the program was far more than a virtuosic display of Abercrombie’s sterling guitar playing. His work with longtime partners Johnson and Erskine had the kind of intuitive, interactive swing and drive that only comes to musicians who have an intimate respect for each other’s work.

There were some startling moments--Coleman’s “Turnaround,” for example--when all three players seemed to be working on different aspects of a musically pointillistic painting. Then, gradually, their seemingly isolated bits and pieces of melody, harmony and rhythm came together in full, radiant shades of tonal variation.

It was a rare and rewarding evening of contemporary jazz at its best.