JAZZ REVIEW : Trio Plays Music to Remember

Ron Eschete needs to look for another job. He’s held his post as one of the best-kept secrets in jazz far too long.

This guitarist, who led his trio through an invigorating, rewarding opening set Tuesday at Mucho Gusto, has been a regular on the Southern California jazz scene for almost two decades. Still, he has yet to make a solo album for a major label.

His recent membership in the quartet of acclaimed pianist Gene Harris will help. So will more trio dates like Tuesday’s, where Eschete, six-stringed electric bassist Todd Johnson and drummer Jay Lecaire floated like butterflies, stung like bees, and generally romped and stomped. It was a performance that overflowed with memorable musical moments.

After a snappy rendition of the standard “I’ll Close My Eyes,” Eschete and his companions delved into “Estate,” a lulling Italian piece made famous in the late ‘70s when Joao Gilberto sang it as slow bossa nova. Playing the tune a little faster rather than very slowly, Eschete delivered colorful bouquets of chords that softly glowed like fireworks as they fade in the sky.

The leader next launched into Michel Legrand’s “You Must Believe in Spring.” Eschete chose a popping medium tempo for a tune usually done as a ballad, which allowed him to reveal several staples of his appealing style.

To play the song’s melody, he segued between thickly textured chords and single-note lines. His tone was as pure as alpine mineral water and shimmered as if he were, like Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode, ringing a bell.

When he soloed, Eschete wasn’t flashy, just remarkably effective and moving as he offered clean, dexterous lines that rose and fell as if he were standing at a blackboard and drawing a series of upside-down variations on the letter “V.” His lines always swung; now and then they evidenced a sultry bluesiness that is one of the guitarist’s strongest suits.

Closing the set--which also included a version of Horace Silver’s “Peace” that was loaded with lustrous chords, and a take on the luscious “Cascade of the Seven Waterfalls”--was Eschete’s rendition of Fats Domino’s 1957 hit, “I’m Walkin’.” Here the guitarist pulled out all the stops, playing with a funky yet clearly be-bop-based feeling that drew shouts of pleasure from the audience.

Behind the leader, Johnson sometimes offered big, fat notes that sounded like a Hammond B-3 organ tones, sometimes played gleaming chords, while Lecaire added sparkling cymbal beats that kept the proceedings rhythmically on track.