Alan Broadbent and His Instrument Don’t Miss the Beat

Strip away a jazz ensemble’s saxes, trumpets and drums, leaving only the bass and piano, and you instantly become aware of the keyboard’s self-sufficiency. Such was the case Sunday at Spaghettini when pianist Alan Broadbent’s usual drummer, Paul Kreibich, turned up absent.

Suddenly, with the trio reduced to a duo, the piano assumed an even larger role in the music, serving as melodic lead, rhythmic timekeeper--it is, after all, a percussion instrument--and dispenser of harmonic color. And because that piano was in Broadbent’s skillful hands, its grand personality seemed larger still.

Dependable bassist Putter Smith was there to add low-end pulse and harmonic support, sketching just the bare outline of the music’s form. Broadbent didn’t limit himself to working only inside that form, but expanded his play to travel both in and out of the music’s constraints, expanding each number with rhythmic and harmonic variation.

Nor did the pianist employ the usual procedure of letting the right hand lead while the left adds occasional chords. During his unaccompanied introduction to “In Your Own Sweet Way,” Broadbent’s two hands seemed to be working separate yet complementary agendas.

While his right hand ascended lyrically in swirling figures, the left scrolled ambitiously in an opposite direction. The pianist employed this often stunning, stereo-melodies effect a number of times.

Broadbent projected a constantly changing harmonic panorama as he soloed, accompanying right-hand phrases with unpredictable left-hand chords, or stringing together two-handed chords in surprising progressions.

This mix of lines and chordal clusters becomes especially moving as Broadbent increased the tension and volume of his improvisation.

The pianist presented a typically tasteful program, covering such ambitious numbers as John Lewis’ “Afternoon in Paris,” Billy Strayhorn’s “Upper Manhattan Medical Group,” Clifford Brown’s “ ‘Daahoud” and Dizzy Gillespie’s “Be-bop.”

Most were identified in the pianist’s respectful, reserved voice after he played them. An original, untitled piece carried a modern, new-music feel with its ironic twists and hints of Leonard Bernstein’s writing for the theater.

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Bassist Smith provided the kind of simple yet expansive support that gives Broadbent free rein to follow his thoughts. Smith’s improvisations--lyrical, direct and rhythmically astute--made for pleasant contrast with Broadbent’s dense attack. As the bassist soloed, Broadbent returned the favor of spare accompaniment, breathing only quiet, selectively placed chords behind Smith’s musings.

The chance to see a pianist of Broadbent’s capabilities in circumstances as intimate as the Spaghettini lounge was especially sweet. And an especially attentive audience made Sunday’s show even more rewarding.

* Alan Broadbent’s trio plays Thursday at Restaurant Kikuya, 8052 Adams Ave., Huntington Beach, 8:30 p.m. No cover, $10 minimum. (714) 536-6665.