Dynamic Trio Stays True to the Music

The atmosphere Wednesday night in the Club Brasserie at the Bel Age Hotel was electric. Despite the stunning view of the glittering Los Angeles basin lighting up the room’s picturesque wall of windows, the standing-room-only crowd had eyes--and ears--only for the trio of all-stars performing on the corner stage.

And it was fascinating to note that the predominately male audience, many of whom grooved physically with the music, couldn’t have cared less that they were reacting so strongly to an all-female jazz ensemble. In an art that--even in the supposedly enlightened late ‘90s--still retains some sexist attitudes, pianist Patrice Rushen, bassist Nedra Wheeler and drummer Teri Lyne Carrington were making a convincing case for simply dealing with the music, whatever its source.

Rushen, whose career musical ledger ranges from rhythm & blues to jazz fusion, from film and television scoring to smooth jazz (on her current album, “Signature”), rarely shows off her equally impressive skills as a straight-ahead jazz player. This time out, sticking to acoustic piano, she ripped off a series of first-rate solos, untouched by considerations from her more commercial outings. Gently rhapsodic on her ballads, she played the blues with slippery intensity, and dug into some up-tempo bebop with the crisp articulation of a true Bud Powell devotee.

Wheeler took a generally less visible stance, preferring to underscore the music with her surging background rhythms. But she opened up in her soloing, which was performed with quick-fingered, consistently imaginative rapidity.

Carrington’s drumming was a bit more problematic. Although it clearly had a major impact upon many of her listeners, it also frequently seemed too large for the context of the music. That she is an extraordinarily talented musician is beyond question. But, on this night, at least, most of what she played--even in the ensemble passages, or in support of the other members of the trio--had the feeling of a long, intense solo.

Still, at its best, the music was first-rate--so much so that any observations regarding gender faded, as they should, with the echoes of the first few appealing notes from this talented trio.