‘Guitar Night’ Resurfaces at Spazio

John Pisano has taken his “Guitar Night” programs through a string of jazz clubs over the last few years, followed by a dedicated audience. When Rocco’s in Bel-Air shut down a few months ago, his fans eagerly awaited the next move, experiencing guitar jazz withdrawal symptoms as they watched to see where he would surface next.

Well, he’s back. Pisano now has taken up Tuesday night residence at Spazio in Sherman Oaks. And the results, predictably, are first-rate. On Tuesday, working with guitarist Anthony Wilson and bassist Darek Oles, Pisano offered an opening set filled with stunning soloing by all three players. Delivered with a deceptively high level of skill, the music was testimony to the ease with which Pisano can generate a creatively compatible performing environment for the wide range of guitarists who turn out for his gatherings.

The choice of music was basic and to the point: an opening blues followed by a group of standards ranging from “Old Folks” to “Night and Day,” concluding with a romp through “Stompin’ at the Savoy.” And the playing, as well, was fundamental and straight ahead. No off-center envelope stretching on this evening. What was compelling, instead, was the gripping quality of what the trio managed to produce within its mainstream musical orbit.

Pisano always has been a masterful accompanist, and those skills are at their best when he is backing a highly imaginative guitarist. Wilson, whose skills seem to expand with each new performance, was in rare form, offering solo after solo filled with intricately woven melodic phrases interspersed with brisk octave passages and incisive chording.

In his contrasting choruses, Pisano offered swing-driven counters, his lines filled with an inherent rhythmic lift. With ballads such as “Old Folks,” he outlined the melody with harmonies that were spare but telling, defining the tunes here, as elsewhere, with a respect for light and space that allowed the essence of the music to come through.

And, on “Secret Love,” the pair combined in a spontaneous duo improvisation that was like a mini two-part invention, with melodies briskly crossing and interweaving with one another in mesmerizing, contrapuntal fashion.

Oles was the firm foundation for the solo guitar excursions as well as a resourceful soloist in his own right. But the real magic of the evening was the collective spontaneity of the music, its effect enhanced by the intimacy of its presentation in a living-room-like setting next to the Spazio bar area. So raise a cheer: “Guitar Night” has returned.

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* John Pisano’s “Guitar Night” at Spazio, 14755 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. This coming Tuesday featuring Pisano, guitarist Mundell Lowe and bassist Jim Hughart. No cover, no minimum. (818) 728-8400.