Allen Trio Extols Individuality

Pianist Geri Allen’s opening set at the Catalina Bar & Grill Wednesday night had a cool, somewhat detached quality--not surprising, given the sparse size of the audience. Nor could one reasonably expect to hear an intuitively intimate, musically integrated group of performances from a trio assembled solely for the gig.

That’s not to fault any of the individual artists. Allen’s multifaceted career has taken her through everything from avant-garde jazz to lyrical balladry. Bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Ralph Penland are two of the Southland’s most dependable rhythm section players--first call for every kind of jazz gig.

But great individual talent doesn’t always result in completely selfless ensemble playing. And Allen was wise to keep the set focused on the fine improvising of the individual players (as well as herself), offering each ample time to stretch out and display their own virtuosic wares.

That stretching-out took place over the course of a program of material reaching back into a number of Allen albums. Some of the high points: “Drummer’s Song” and “In the Middle” from the album “Twenty One”; “Dolphy’s Dance” from the album “Maroons.”

Here too, however, Allen ran into a bit of a snag. Jazz audiences depend upon familiar or reasonably accessible harmonies to provide a reference point during improvisations.

And this is the case even when the process takes place unconsciously, which is one of the reasons why the chord pattern of the 12-bar blues, with its inherent qualities of movement, repetition and resolution, is so pleasing to listeners.

Allen’s pieces were filled with attractive, darting melodies and surging undercurrents of rhythm. But they offered little in the way of immediately referential harmonies.

The result was that, once the soloing began, the improvisations surfaced as quick-fingered displays of technique rather than potentially more intriguing extensions and variations flowing from the opening themes.

Since each of the players possesses strong, imaginative musical skills, there were more than a few passages in which their inventiveness prevailed. But this essentially anarchistic musical approach more often left something to be desired.

And by the close of the set, one couldn’t help but wish that there had been at least one standard tune, even a straight-ahead blues, to help pull the audience into a more connected enjoyment of the music.

The Geri Allen Trio at Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Tonight, late set only at 10:30 p.m. $16 cover. Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7:30 p.m., $20 cover; Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 p.m., $18 cover. Two-drink minimum. (323) 466-2210.