Interplay? Yes, they live up to the name

Spontaneous, self-effacing musical interaction is something that one always hopes for but too rarely experiences in small jazz ensembles. So when a trio of musicians audaciously choose to name themselves Interplay, they set a high bar of expectations.

The performance by flutist Lori Bell, guitarist Ron Satterfield and pianist Dave Mackay -- Interplay -- at the Vic on Thursday justified the name choice. Musical associates, in this ensemble and others, for more than a decade, they played with symbiotic togetherness, their musical lines blending and flowing with the ease of longtime creative partners.

Most of the program was based on standards such as “You’ve Changed,” “God Bless the Child” and “Have You Met Miss Jones?” performed with lighthearted buoyancy, often underpinned with tinges of Brazilian rhythms. Despite the absence of either bass or drums, the music was propulsive, driven by Satterfield’s remarkable combination of bass lines and chordal strumming, Mackay’s rhythmically articulate piano and an implicit ensemble sense of swing.

Bell’s playing -- on C flute and the lower, darker-sounding alto flute -- was gorgeous, filled with light and air on the ballads, briskly inventive on her bop-tinged improvisations. Mackay, one of the jazz world’s under-acknowledged pianists, played with his familiar creative sensitivity, adding a piquant vocal or two. And Satterfield’s utterly unique singing and scatting, combined with his effervescent guitar playing, were clearly the product of a rare and individual talent.

Interplay climaxed their constantly engaging set with a medley from “The Wizard of Oz,” tripping musically through the tunes with the collective enthusiasm and musicality that defines the work of this superlative ensemble.