JAZZ REVIEW : Sunshine From Ray Brown Trio

“We really appreciate your coming out in this weather,” said Ray Brown--and thereupon launched his trio into a stomping treatment of “You Are My Sunshine.”

It is possible for any group to exceed, in overall achievement, the already considerable sum of its parts, particularly when those parts are Brown, Gene Harris and Jeff Hamilton. Such was the conclusion swiftly reached when this group, which plays together only occasionally, opened for a week at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood.

Maturity and inspiration, leavened with a touch of wit, governed the performance Tuesday as Harris, a pianist who recently completed a tour leading his own big band, showed his blues-rooted credentials in an arrangement of “Paradise,” a song Pola Negri introduced in a 1932 movie.

Ray Brown, who has long inspired countless bass players around the world, functions no less admirably as a rhythm section component than in his solo outings; the former aspect was flawlessly displayed in his ensemble work on just about everything, and the latter in his breathtaking solo on “Sophisticated Lady.”

Hamilton, who has shown his value as an orchestral drummer with John Clayton, adapts himself just as sympathetically to an intimate setting. His use of brushes, at which he has always excelled, came to the forefront in “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” introduced as a duet with Brown playing the melody and Harris laying out. Hamilton shone again in “Buhaina, Buhaina,” and concluded the set with bristling blues by Brown, “Bam, Bam, Bam.”

Instinctively cohesive artistry achieved by this threesome has few if any equals in contemporary acoustic jazz. Given the strong attendance on the rainy opening night, this visit, through Sunday, should provide full houses as the week nears its end.