Trio Can’t Match Roberts’ Level of Accomplishment

The piano trio is one of the fundamental jazz chamber ensembles. Like the string quartet in concert music, it contains everything required for creative expression, from both a minimalist and an expansive point of view. It can groove with the intensity of an Oscar Peterson trio, float with the harmonic interplay of a Bill Evans ensemble, or click with the rhythmic precision of an Ahmad Jamal group.

Marcus Roberts, one of the most versatile pianists to arrive on the jazz scene in the last decade or two, has the capacity to function comfortably within any of the above musical environments. And the trio he brought to the late set at Catalina Bar & Grill Tuesday night tried--not always successfully--to dip into each.

There was little to fault in Roberts’ own playing. His current fascination with George Gershwin and Scott Joplin surfaced in a variety of ways. His piece, “Play What’s Written,” whimsically filled with spontaneously improvised passages, also was tinged with Gershwin’s characteristic blues chords. And, in “The Entertainer” and “A Real Slow Drag,” Roberts found ways to transform the Joplin lines into a kind of timeless musical reality.

He did all this while playing with a keen, articulate swing, only occasionally verging into the rhapsodic arpeggiation that is the least appealing aspect of his improvising.

Unfortunately, Roberts’ trio rarely delivered at the same level of accomplishment. Carefully rehearsed, playing arrangements that called for a constant attention to detail, the music too often sounded like the product of a well-oiled machine rather than an inspired jazz trio.

* Marcus Roberts Trio at Catalina Bar & Grill. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (213) 466-2210. $16 cover today, Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.; $14 cover today, Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. Two-drink minimum.