JAZZ REVIEW : Ross Tompkins Plays in Key of Suave at Kikuya

Friday may have been one of the chilliest nights of the season, but that didn’t stop Kikuya house guitarist Doug MacDonald and his trio from warming almost immediately to the presence of their special guest, pianist Ross Tompkins.

Tompkins and MacDonald are no strangers, having spent many nights together in Los Angeles as members of the Snooky Young/Bob Cooper quintet of the mid-’80s. Though best known as the keyboard player in Doc Severinsen’s “Tonight Show” band, Tompkins has worked with a host of greats over the years including Kai Winding, Clark Terry, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Bobby Hackett and Louie Bellson. Nowadays he can be found in the L.A. clubs only rarely, when he isn’t touring as a solo act (he has a gig this week at Duke University in North Carolina).

The unaccompanied segments of his performance here were the most revealing. His solo introduction to “My Funny Valentine” hinted at the melancholy theme while swirling through a variety of moods and rhythms, mostly using his right hand. He turned to his left hand to introduce “Am I Blue?” working in somber, considered style with few counterpoints.

Nattily dressed and imperially slim, he used these intros to set up the tunes without saying a word to his partners: Looking across the keyboard toward MacDonald, he would wind through his prefaces until the band members caught on and signaled with their nods. As the guitar, bass and drums joined in, Tompkins was turned loose to explore the melodies in sophisticated, intelligent style.

Ballads took center stage, and Tomkins gave each a rich, romantic treatment. “Emily” showed Bill Evans-esque sensitivity while “You Are Too Beautiful” was full of rhythmic starts and stops.

But not everything was delivered at a slow pace. Nat Adderley’s “Work Song” was played with assertive strength; each break between the lines of the famous theme hit with hammer-like certainty. Sonny Rollins’ be-bop-paced “Sonnymoon for Two” further let Tompkins demonstrate that his smarts don’t desert him when the tempo goes up.

Tompkins’ suave ways, and the crowded room, brought out the best in MacDonald and company.

The guitarist showed that he loves his work, smiling and winking at the audience before closing his eyes to look inward during particularly difficult passages. From the first tune of the evening, “Time on My Hands,” the trio played at its peak, matching fine individual efforts with alert, savvy interplay.

Bassist Jack Prather and drummer Nick Martinis worked as a solid team when supporting the front line. Prather was especially inventive during his improvisations, sometimes alternating between bowed and plucked tones, and backing the sound with wordless vocal resonance.

Martinis displayed his characteristic responsiveness, sometimes playing on the beat to emphasize one of his cronies’ more pointed statements, often echoing a particularly appropriate line from Tomkins or MacDonald with soft punctuation from a cymbal, or a snap at his snare.

The turnout was encouraging, and the assembled weren’t disappointed. The foursome proved just the thing for the chilly night--more romantic than an evening in front of the fireplace and, when things really started cooking, just as hot.