JAZZ REVIEW : Trotter, Friends Make a Majestic Mix

In many ways it was what you would call a jam session: fine players getting together to play tunes they’ve played millions of times. But what raised the level of pianist Terry Trotter’s second set Monday at Sherman Oaks’ Le Cafe from mundane to majestic was the exceptional quality of the musicians and their empathy for each other.

The crew--Dave Moody on tenor sax, Tom Warrington on bass, Ralph Penland on drums and unadvertised “special guest” Larry Carlton on guitar--was a giving group, always listening, never forcing.

Trotter, who has been Carlton’s keyboardist for about a decade and who closely resembles Herbie Hancock in terms of raw talent and approach, began the opener, “Stella by Starlight,” unaccompanied, tucking in the evergreen’s melody amid dissonant chords, angular offshoots and snatches of silence.

Then Warrington and Penland joined in, the latter using brushes effectively for two choruses, and when Trotter started rolling out undulating, attractive lines with a muscular touch and a rich bracing sound, the bassist and drummer went right with him, supporting the leader as if they were a big easy chair for him to plop into. Trotter took advantage of the situation to concoct lines that were often complex but never lost their swinging feel.

Carlton started his extemporization on “Stella” tentatively, picking out snippets of notes, giving one the idea he was not at home in this mainstream setting. That proved not to be the case as he soon dived in, playing stretched-out, interwoven statements with a warm blanket of a sound. True, when the band played a shuffle, “Blues in the Closet,” the guitarist was on home turf, leaning back on his stool and delivering the biting, smoking lines that are his trademark.

Saxman Moody was the sound of surprise in action, investing “Stella” with soft and furry ideas and wham-bam notes he belted out with a startling furor. Mixing influences of Rollins and Coltrane, the horn man--whose tone was a sweet cry--played vaulting, arpeggiated motifs and more curved, rounded thoughts. On “Footprints” and “Blues in the Closet,” Moody’s solid-at-the-core cooking style was obviously evident.

Warrington and Penland soloed extensively in the set, the bassist revealing a front-liner’s fluency and invention and the latter offering one outing on brushes that was the epitome of grace and finesse.

Trotter would do well to gather his forces together more regularly. He’s a major-league artist who really has something to say in the acoustic mainstream genre.