Stylish Roberts Trio Closes Chamber Series

The grand, high-ceilinged interior of Union Station was a strikingly appropriate setting for a performance by the Marcus Roberts Trio on Sunday afternoon. The final program for this season’s Chamber Music in Historic Sites, the concert positioned Roberts’ timeless piano style within a structure that has seen most of the iconic jazz figures pass through its chambers.

Roberts has always brought an impressive historical overview to his music, whether playing with Wynton Marsalis or reworking George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” This time out, he announced that he--with bassist Ronald Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis--would take a musical look at the many faces of the jazz piano trio.

What actually emerged, however, was generally limited to a fond recollection of the work of Erroll Garner, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson and Nat King Cole, with a Dizzy Gillespie reference (via the legendary bop trumpeter’s “Tin Tin Deo”) and some Gershwin thrown in for good measure.

Roberts is far too sophisticated an artist to offer tributes in the form of simulations, and--with one or two exceptions--the specific references to Garner, Jamal, Peterson and the others surfaced indirectly. A subtle referral to Garner’s harp-like chording style, for example, was all it took to bring the style to life. Jamal’s classic rendering of “Poinciana” was performed in more imitative style, its now-classic flowing percussion pattern--played superbly by Marsalis--making an instant linkage with Garner’s original hit version.

Measured on Roberts’ own high-level scale of achievement, the performance was moderately successful, occasionally breaking out into stunning areas of creativity--especially in a powerful solo passage during his final number.

More often, his work only touched the outlines of his full improvisational capabilities. And when he elected to offer ballads such as “Misty” and “Moonlight in Vermont” at funereal tempos, the usual well-integrated work of the trio showed distinct signs of pulling in separate directions.

In fact, it was Marsalis’ resourceful playing that generally held the group together. Generating a kaleidoscope of sounds from a standard drum kit, constantly adding compositional elements to each of the pieces, he offered a revelatory view of jazz drumming as an innovative art.