First Bass: Christian McBride has been the...

First Bass: Christian McBride has been the A-list bass player of choice lately, popping up in every imaginable musical setting. But when it comes to piano trios, George Mraz, a 53-year-old Czech expatriate, seems to be nearly as popular. No less than three recent piano trio recordings feature Mraz’s propulsive, low-frequency sounds as an integral part of the music. His own recent album, appropriately titled “Bottom Lines” (Milestone), finds Mraz in the company of pianist Cyrus Chestnut, with saxophonist Rich Perry and drummer Al Foster added to the mix. And he once again gets together with Chestnut (and drummer Louis Nash) as the rhythm section for Bud Shank on “By Request: Bud Shank Meets the Rhythm Section” (Milestone).

Why is Mraz so favored by pianists? A brief tour through the three recent albums--”Snow Leopard” (Alfa Jazz) by the Richie Beirach Trio, “Favors” (Verve) with the Hank Jones Trio and “First Time Ever” (Alfa Jazz) with the Barry Harris Trio--suggest some readily apparent reasons. Mraz’s playing, first of all, is solid and dependable--precisely in tune, articulated with a powerful swing feeling, filled with bold harmonic choices. Equally important, he is versatile and perceptive enough to adapt his playing to each pianist--precise and straight-ahead with Jones, rhythmically boppish and harmonically adventurous with Harris, and edgy and cool with Beirach.