Terrasson and Co.: Interactive Trio Plus One

Jacky Terrasson arrived at the Jazz Bakery this week almost simultaneously with the release of his latest Blue Note album, “What It Is.” Ordinarily, that would mean an evening of music recapturing the sounds on the new CD. But Terrasson recorded with so many differently sized ensembles and stylistically varied musicians that a live repetition was probably out of the question.

So it was just as well that he elected instead to perform with longtime associate Ugonna Okegwo on bass and imaginative young drummer Jaz Sawyer on drums. This was a trio with impressive musical interaction, reminiscent at times of the superb work that Terrasson did in past trios that featured drummer Leon Parker.

The presence of saxophonist Sam Newsome, however, was a bit harder to understand. Even in his most adventurous soloing, Terrasson always remained in firm contact with the jazz mainstream. Newsome, on the other hand, sounded like a musical loner.

His soprano saxophone solos were pastiches of riffs, repetitions and long-held notes, almost utterly devoid of the blues-based phrasing and bop-driven rhythms that are essential parts of the current jazz dialect. Newsome simply went his own way, speaking with an instrumental voice that owed very little to anyone except himself.

As a result, although Newsome’s participation in tunes such as “Better World” and “Sister Sheryl” produced some offbeat sounds, Terrasson’s playing and arranging were better served in the trio offerings of “Love for Sale” and “Nature Boy.” The Cole Porter tune, in particular, materialized through a curtain of scrapes and rattles, with Terrasson generating aquatic-sounding plunks from stopped piano strings and Sawyer adding random snare accents and the crisp hissing of a small hand shaker. Okegwo, soloing through much of the piece, added a dark undercurrent to an arrangement that was a fascinating example of jazz music’s ability to illuminate familiar material.

If Wednesday night’s program lacked the familiarity of the straight-ahead playing that Terrasson can do so well, it compensated with its presentation of a curious creative mind at work. To his credit, and despite his set’s occasional uncertainties, Terrasson seems clearly determined to follow his own musical path.

* The Jacky Terrasson Quartet at the Jazz Bakery. 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City, tonight. (310) 271-9039. $20 admission at 8 and 9:30 p.m.