JAZZ REVIEW : Kirkland Trio’s Vibrant N.Y. Sound

One of the perennial questions for jazz listeners is whether there is a difference between rhythm sections from the East and the West coasts.

A resounding yes was offered at Carlos & Charlie’s new jazz room on Friday, when pianist Kenny Kirkland and his “Tonight Show” teammates Jeff Watts on drums and Robert Hurst on bass performed with a thrust and feel that typified the New York jazz sound.

Instead of moving the rhythm forward with the floating, somewhat anticipatory, slightly ahead-of-the-pulse quality favored by many West Coast players, Kirkland, Hurst and especially Watts drove into the very heart of the beat. The result was a pulsation rich with the vibrant, demanding, near-chaotic urgency of a crowded metropolis.

Kirkland, who has become one of the busiest pianists in town, played with the confident manner of a contemporary artist who has incorporated a firm sense of jazz history in every note of his music. And Watts, who exploded with a brilliantly structured solo at the start of the second set, fully justified his laudatory press notices. A still not-quite-adequate sound system prevented Hurst from being heard properly on his improvisations, but his ensemble work was impeccable.

The Kirkland trio was joined on several numbers by trumpeters Sal Marquez and Marcus Belgrave--both be-boppers, both triggering exhilarating choruses from each other. Kirkland’s East Coast rhythms continue at Carlos & Charlie’s every Friday and Saturday, with a variety of horn players expected to join the jam session format.