JAZZ REVIEW : ’50 Fingers’ Gets Big Hand at Ambassador

“I needed that,” said a listener Wednesday night at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena after pianists Roger Kellaway and Dick Hyman had just performed an exhilarating, blues-tinged and very swinging version of “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.” The number had concluded a concert called “50 Fingers” that also spotlighted three other fine pianists: Kenny Barron, Alan Broadbent and Gerald Wiggins.

On the program, the pianists first played unaccompanied, and then in duos, and the fan’s observation could have spoken for others in the audience. The pulsating, bandlike feeling that Hyman and Kellaway generated was often missing during the solo performances, which, though much wonderful music was performed, were sometimes short on rhythmic energy and focus.

Which is why the post-intermission half of “50 Fingers” made for a more consistently rewarding listening experience than the first. Here the pianists were, in effect, each other’s bands, there was more forward drive to the pieces, and there was a clearer distinction between the soloist and the accompanist.

For example, Barron played fat, thick chords for Broadbent when they offered “Strollin’,” and the latter delivered fluid, attractive lines that sparkled. When Wiggins and Barron played a duet on “St. Louis Blues,” one of the evening’s high points, Barron worked like a bass player, allowing Wiggin’s locked-hands phrases to sing. After Wiggins and Hyman performed “Satin Doll,” Kellaway joined Hyman for an uproarious “Chopsticks” that could have been written by Erik Satie, John Cage and Art Tatum, separately or collectively, before their climactic finale.

The solo portion was full of its own charm. Barron brought a Monklike elegance to “Getting Sentimental Over You,” mixing phrases that might have been played by the great pianist with be-bop bent darting ideas that were stunning.

Broadbent was alternately bluesy and boppish on “Django” while Hyman took “Sophisticated Lady” at a fast waltz tempo that all but obscured the number’s lovely melody. Wiggins was the epitome of ease and grace on two tunes, and Kellaway, with typical elan, gave “My One and Only Love” an expressionistic ride, liberally mixing in dissonant passages with robust, swinging lines.

The superb acoustics of Ambassador provided an ideal venue for these outstanding artists.