In Brief

*** JOHN HICKS, CECIL McBEE, ELVIN JONES “Power Trio” (Novus Records). This tasteful blues and ballads set has been liberally splashed with the influences of McCoy Tyner and John Coltrane, though it avoids simple derivation. Hicks is a Tyner disciple in sound and feeling, Jones--an incredibly swinging trapsman--was Coltrane’s primary drummer. Two Coltrane tunes--the burning blues, “Cousin Mary,” and the atmospheric “After the Rain”--help evoke the hornman’s aura, though Duke Ellington is also saluted with “Duke’s Place” and “Chelsea Bridge.”