Stu Goldberg Trio Misses the Chance to Fully Shine

The appearance by the Stu Goldberg Trio at Spazio in Sherman Oaks on Wednesday night was a fascinating illustration of the shadowy interface between art and commerce. Performing in a jazz restaurant, a setting in which audience attentiveness is not as focused as it might be in a concert hall, Goldberg elected to present an evening’s worth of his sometimes thorny original compositions.

There’s no reason why any artist should be obliged to bypass original works in favor of an exploration of familiar jazz standards, of course. Goldberg is a well-established pianist, arranger, and film and television composer whose jazz roots reach back to the ‘70s, when he performed with, among others, John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter. And many of the pieces he played--some from his current album, “Going Home”--deserved a hearing in a listening environment that allowed their many compositional and improvisational subtleties to be revealed.

The question, however, was why Goldberg insisted upon offering works with such subtleties in a setting, and to an audience, that clearly demanded a more accessible, more directly communicative program of music.

Whatever the answer, the result was that some intriguing compositions and a series of imaginative improvisations--from Goldberg, as well as bassist Jeff Falkner and drummer Dave Renick--were frequently overwhelmed by the room’s ambient sounds.

Goldberg would have done himself a service by tossing in a few familiar items to help lead the audience into his colorful musical world. Or, if he was determined to submit an evening of original works, his artistry would not have been diminished had he emphasized pieces with brighter rhythms and more lyrical melodies--all of which surely exist somewhere in his personal catalog. Instead, his potentially engaging musical talent never fully managed to surface.