Melvoin Trio Finds Right Spot to Swing With Skillful Artistry

There’s something to be said for hearing well-crafted jazz in a classic nightclub setting. Especially when the music is performed by a group as mature and skilled as the Mike Melvoin trio, and the location is as sympathetic to the music as the new Jazz Spot, adjacent to the Los Feliz restaurant.

Name an area of the jazz and pop world, and Melvoin has probably been there, as a player, composer and sterling accompanist (he currently works in a duo with singer Bill Henderson). He even served a stint as president of the National Assn. of Recording Arts and Sciences. But Melvoin seems most content when he is behind a piano keyboard, cruising easily through a set of standards and originals.

On Friday night at the Jazz Spot he was in fine form, ably assisted by bassist John Heard and drummer John Guerin--each an equally adept veteran of the jazz wars. Although the standards were familiar items--”Young and Foolish,” “They Say That Falling in Love Is Wonderful,” “You and the Night and the Music,” “There Is No Greater Love”--Melvoin’s interpretations offered appealing perspectives of each.

A bopper at heart, he also is a player who brings a compositional unity to his improvising, building well-paced solos over a propulsive undercurrent of swing. His originals “La Luna Negra” and “The Melody Is You” were further examples of Melvoin’s capacity to establish melodic appeal within articulated musical structures.

Heard and Guerin worked well as a team, subtly supporting the upfront piano lines at times, interacting aggressively when that was a more appropriate response. Heard’s soloing, especially on a Melvoin original blues number, “Oh, Baby,” was first rate, and Guerin mixed an array of percussive sounds with his unerring ability to swing.

It was no wonder that the crowd, which included rocker Eric Clapton, reacted to the Melvoin set--the right music in the right location--with repeated cheers of enthusiasm.