Now uncorked: a new club for piano trios

Corky Hale describes her new jazz club as “the most informal jazz room you’ve ever been in.” And that’s a pretty accurate description of Corky’s at the EM Bistro.

Wednesday night, Hale was seated comfortably at her baby grand piano, on a stage in an alcove window. Visible behind her through that window, a neon sign identifies Corky’s to the passing traffic on Beverly Boulevard just east of Beverly Center.

“We don’t really have sets,” Hale explained between songs during her relaxed, easygoing program with bassist Octavio Bailly and drummer Donny Osborne. “We just call the tunes and the keys to each other and get to it.”

The tunes were all standards: “Over the Rainbow,” “Like Someone in Love,” “The More I See You,” “My Romance,” “Stella by Starlight,” “Let’s Fall in Love,” and more. Most surfaced in a similar format: Hale played an opening chorus in freely expressive, rubato fashion, after which Bailly and Osborne cranked up the rhythm and Hale unleashed the energies of her chord-rich, Erroll Garner-influenced style.

Although Hale may be the best-known jazz harpist, she was a pianist first, and her history with the instrument reaches back to when she accompanied Billie Holiday. An engaging vocalist herself, she unfortunately elected to sing only a few tunes -- including “How Deep Is the Ocean” and “S’Wonderful” -- rendering each with an appealing blend of musicality and lyric expressiveness.

But Corky’s, she said, is going to be primarily a venue for piano trios -- an attractive new destination for jazz fans. Hale will appear the first week of each month, with a lineup of the Southland’s finest pianists also scheduled to perform in coming months.

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The Corky Hale Trio

Where: Corky’s Jazz Club at EM Bistro, 8256 Beverly Blvd., L.A.

When: Tonight, 8 p.m.

Price: $20 food and drink minimum

Contact: (323) 658-6004