JAZZ REVIEW : Flight’s Flash, Finesse Go Unrecognized : Drummer Wally Stryk’s trio gave a smooth performance to a chatty crowd at Studio Cafe.

Some people just don’t know what they’re missing. That was certainly true Sunday evening at the Studio Cafe as drummer Wally Stryk’s trio, Flight, played to a small, chatty, largely inattentive crowd.

What those in attendance chose to ignore was a smooth performance of well-chosen standards, done with taste and a bit of flash. Stryk, a Boston native who has been in the Southland for two years, performs with Segment, a percussive-heavy ensemble that includes marimbas, African percussion and Stryk’s trap work, in addition to various editions of his own trio. The bassist for this engagement, Ken Filiano, has recorded with multireed man Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble, trombonist Joey Sellers’ Jazz Aggregation and adventurous keyboardist Richard Grossman in addition to putting out a pair of his own albums.

The ringer among the three was keyboardist Don Preston, who is probably best known for his association with the Mothers of Invention. But Preston, a Michigan native who honed his chops in Detroit after-hours clubs with the likes of Elvin Jones and Yusef Lateef, has solid jazz credentials. He has worked with Don Cherry, Michael Mantler, Gil Evans, Carla and Paul Bley, among others, and has also contributed to several film scores, including that of “Apocalypse Now.” Lately, he’s been heard in Los Angeles as a member of cornetist Bobby Bradford’s Mo’tet and, just last week, he presented a program of enticing originals at the Catalina Bar & Grill with a trio that counted bassist and Orange County resident Art Davis among its members.

Though Stryk had worked with both men at different times, this was the first time the three had worked as a unit. Except for brief discussions between numbers, that fact was hardly apparent as the trio found common ground during a first set that relied mainly on familiar Miles Davis tunes.

They warmed up to the trumpeter’s “All Blues,” with Filiano, the possessor of a full, meaty tone, stating the familiar bass line while Preston added dissonant twists to the simple theme. Stryk punched up the pace, working a double-time into the bridge that sent Preston scurrying into his solo. Preston swirled warmly through Davis’ “Solar” while Stryk managed to keep things heated despite being crammed into a tight corner of the tiny bandstand.

Preston’s best moments came during a duo with Filiano on Miles’ near-mystic tune “Nardis.” Though his own material has him working the keyboard with a Cecil Taylor-like intensity, his approach here was more fluid with a lyrical right hand sparked by a pushy left. In support, Filiano wasn’t content to walk or merely track chords, but played off the pianist’s story line, emphasizing a phrase here, adding embellishment there. His own solo was a warm, melodic reworking of the theme that wandered across the full range of his instrument. Preston drew the piece to a close with a Middle Eastern-flavored line that ended darkly below middle C.

“Django,” the paean to the well-known guitarist written by Modern Jazz Quartet pianist John Lewis, injected some seriousness into the proceedings, with Preston’s respectful, classically influenced block-chord introduction moving into smoothly drawn lines that Stryk shaded with brushes and mallets. The up-tempo blues that followed allowed the drummer to show some swing.

And the crowd’s response to this satisfying effort? At the conclusion of each tune, as if in answer to a Zen riddle, could be heard the sound of one man clapping.