The Acoustic Jazz Piano Renaissance : Recordings: Petrucciani really swings with Louiss on organ, and re-releases of Garner are fresh and exuberant.

The jazz renaissance of the acoustic piano continues. The growing number of recordings showcasing the music of plain, unadorned Steinways, Baldwins and Bosendorfers should bring joy to the heart of anyone who has ever cringed at the sound of be-bop on a Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer.

And with just cause. More than any other acoustic instrument, the piano--because of its orchestral range of timbres and sounds--provides a rich musical landscape for creative exploration. From Scott Joplin and James P. Johnson to Art Tatum and Chick Corea, it has elicited some of the most diverse jazz recordings ever made.

A random survey of current piano releases (as well as a reissue or two) reveals the remarkable surge of music that is being (and has been) triggered by the instrument.

The best of breed in this roundup is a pure pedigreed example of world-class improvising from French pianist Michel Petrucciani, “Conference de presse” (Dreyfuss Jazz) (3 1/2 stars). Ironically, it interfaces Petrucciani’s acoustic piano with Eddy Louiss’ Hammond organ (in effect, the first keyboard synthesizer). But there are no electronic glitches in this matchup, which was recorded last year in a live performance at the Paris jazz club Petit Journal Montparnasse. The diminutive Petrucciani and the bear-like Louiss may look different, but their music has the innate intuitive connections of a pair of fraternal twins. And they swing--from note one--with irresistible, foot-tapping drive on an impromptu blues titled “Jean-Philippe Herbien,” and with rhythmically compelling balladry on “These Foolish Things.”

Petrucciani seems to improve with every outing, with a virtuosic technical arsenal reaching from two-handed octaves and cluster-thick harmonies to forward-thrusting, right-hand be-bop lines. An exhilarating illustration of the joyous qualities of jazz at its finest.

In his own way, Erroll Garner could swing as hard as Petrucciani, and few pianists in jazz history better understood the instrument’s facility for tonal and rhythmic contrasts. “Magician/Gershwin & Kern” (Telarchive) (3 stars), the latest in the company’s program of re-releases from Garner’s Octave Records, includes two complete LPs from the mid-’70s. This is vintage Garner, working over Bacharach, Legrand and several originals in addition to five Gershwin and seven Kern tracks. The performances are as fresh today as the day they were recorded--tunefully melodic, filled with radiantly exuberant rhythms. In Garner’s unique fashion (with whimsical introductions, harp-style chording on ballads, off-balance left-hand rhythms on middle tempos, sudden dynamic shifts on up-tempos), each reading offers a strikingly new perspective of familiar repertoire.

George Shearing, a Garner competitor for a good part of his career, doesn’t quite hit his stride in “Walkin”’ (Telarc Records) (2 stars), recorded at New York City’s Blue Note club in 1992. Accompanied by drummer Grady Tate and longtime partner Neil Swainson on bass, Shearing stumbles rhythmically here and there, and never clicks into the strong, flowing groove that characterizes his best achievements. And that’s a shame, since he plays an unusually appealing set that includes Clare Fischer’s lovely “Pensativa,” Bud Powell’s “Celia” and Lee Konitz’s “Subconscious Lee.”

First-rate live performing by McCoy Tyner, one of the major post-Shearing and Garner pianists, turns up in another two-CD collection, “Live at Sweet Basil” (Evidence Records) (3 stars). Tyner was in top form for the 1989 date, well attended by his regular rhythm team of Avery Sharpe, bass, and Aaron Scott, drums. It is classic Tyner, made even better by the inherent energies of a live venue, working his way through a group of tunes extending from a dense, textually lush reading of John Coltrane’s “Crescent” to a colorful tour through “Just in Time.”

The length of the performances (10 minutes, in some cases) allows ample room for stretched-out soloing. More important, it spotlights the powers of the Tyner trio in a way that has rarely been revealed in its studio recordings.

CDs from three lesser-known players--Lynn Arriale, John Colianni and Jon Weber--offer further views of jazz piano.

Arriale--”When You Listen” (DMP Records) (3 stars)--was the winner of the 1993 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, and justifiably so. Her most attractive attributes include an exquisite sense of touch and an understated but propulsive drive. The ballad phrases she spins out on the standards “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” and “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” are articulated with ravishing simplicity and underscored with Bill Evans-like harmonic qualities. On up-tempos such as “You and the Night and the Music,” she uses long, soaring single note lines to build brilliantly paced sequences of tension and release.

Colianni’s “At Maybeck” (Concord Records) (2 1/2 stars) is the initial solo recording from a pianist who has served the last few years as Mel Torme’s accompanist. The Maybeck series (this is the 37th volume) usually brings out the best in pianists, and Colianni’s performance here is no exception. A masterful technician, he moves easily from rhapsodic versions of “Stardust,” “It Never Entered My Mind” and “I Never Knew” to percussive, two-handed romps through “Don’t Stop the Carnival” and “Tea for Two.” Then, in an abrupt change of pace, he closes with a bittersweet interpretation of Kurt Cobain’s “Heart Shaped Box.”

Weber--”Jazz Wagon” (IMI Records) (2 1/2 stars)--is that uncommon discovery, an obscure performer who arrives on the scene with superior skills. A natural talent who has developed an extraordinary capacity to play anything he can hear, Weber is all over the place in this debut outing. Traces of Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner course through his solo efforts in a program that grazes across everything from standards and originals to a highly idiosyncratic rendition of the Icelandic national anthem. But Weber is a pianist to watch. Given the opportunity and the encouragement to find his own voice, he could emerge as a prominent player.

Other Sounds: Hank Jones, another piano veteran, is seen by his musical colleagues as a player who can interpret almost any kind of music with delicacy and sophistication. But “Steal Away” (Verve) (2 stars), a joint effort co-led with bassist Charlie Haden, confines him within a 14-track lineup of spirituals, hymns and folk songs. Imaginative as the idea may have seemed in theory, it doesn’t come off in practice. Not a notably aggressive soloist, Jones approaches the items--aside from occasional bursts of energy on “Wade in the Water” and “We Shall Overcome”--with a reserve that borders on detachment. Haden plays with predictable professionalism, but it’s difficult not to wonder why this meeting between two skilled jazz greats could not have been framed by a program that might have stimulated the kind of engaging improvisation that each does so well.

Bassist Ray Brown is the nominal leader of “Some of My Best Friends Are . . .” (Telarc Records) (3 stars), but his musical pals are all pianists: Ahmad Jamal, Benny Green, Dado Moroni, Geoff Keezer and Oscar Peterson. Brown, of course, plays superbly on every piece--a consummate soloist and accompanist who maintains his creative personality while discreetly adapting his playing to a variety of styles. But the album, in sum, is a quick, cross-section sampling of the pianists. Jamal, with help from Brown’s interjected counter lines, typically transforms his three selections into stirring examples of his ability to build excitement via the rhythmic contrast of sounds and silences. Green is fast and technical, except for an unexpectedly lyrical reading of “Just a Gigolo,” Moroni somehow translates John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” into an Erroll Garnerish groove, and Keezer brings a boppish, contemporary feeling to “Close Your Eyes.”

The choicest moments are saved until last. The final two tracks with Peterson--”St. Tropez” and “How Come You Do Me?”--are the album’s culmination, an infectiously swinging get-together between two jazz giants who have been musical associates for nearly 50 years. This is what acoustic jazz piano is really all about.

The Singers: Valerie Capers and Diana Krall are at least a generation apart in age, and both add winning vocals to their well-crafted jazz piano work. Canadian-born Krall makes her debut on “Only Trust Your Heart” (GRP Records) (2 1/2 stars) with sterling assistance from Ray Brown, Christian McBride, Lewis Nash and Stanley Turrentine. But the album suffers from a stylistic dualism. Krall sings with a dark, throaty sound and a tendency to slide into her notes reminiscent of Dinah Washington. On the tracks with Turrentine, these devices steer the music drastically, and not always appealingly, in the direction of jazz-tinged rhythm & blues.

A more multifaceted Krall surfaces on the trio tunes--especially “Broadway,” “The Folks Who Live on the Hill,” “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “Squeeze Me”--a performer whose subtle piano interacts beautifully with thoughtfully modulated vocals. GRP clearly needs to decide how to produce this gifted young artist.

Despite Capers’ three decades in the business, “Come on Home” (Columbia Records) (2 1/2 stars) is her first album in eight years and only her second major-label release. A full professor and chair of the Department of Music and Art at Bronx Community College, Capers, who lost her sight at age 6, has spent much of her time in the ‘80s and ‘90s teaching and composing, and her boppish up-tempo playing is, perhaps understandably, a bit rhythmically uncertain in places. But she plays a laid-back version of “I’ve Never Been Before” with an impeccable touch, and the interaction of her voice and her piano on two ballads recalls some of Shirley Horn’s more luminous work.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good, recommended), four stars (excellent).