Eric Reed Trio, in robust form

Opening nights in Los Angeles are not always easy for touring jazz artists. Arriving in town after cross-country flights, they must stroll onstage ready to perform at peak level, unfazed by jet lag or fatigue.

Sometimes, as was the case with the Eric Reed Trio on Tuesday at the Jazz Bakery, they have to do so while at the mercy of an East Coast cold.

To its credit, the group -- Reed playing piano, with bassist David Wong and drummer E.J. Strickland, all afflicted with the sniffles -- started its opening set briskly, romping through Benny Golson’s “Stablemates.”

But the next tune, “Star Eyes” -- despite some vigorous drum soloing from Strickland -- never quite got into rhythmic sync, each player traveling in a slightly different groove.

Fortunately, the music slowly found focus over the next pair of tunes, thanks largely to Reed’s strong creative guidance. A complete-package player, blindingly virtuosic on up-tempo numbers, precise and articulate on ballads, he fashioned a set filled with classic numbers: Randy Weston’s “Hi-Fly,” Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation” and Dave Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way” (done in 5/4), juxtaposed against ballad standards such as “It’s Easy to Remember” and “I Wish I Knew.”

Reed’s appearance represented a sort of return home. Philadelphia-born, he spent his teenage years in L.A.; his talent acknowledged early, he was precocious enough to have toured with Wynton Marsalis at age 18. His performance at the Bakery affirmed that Reed -- now 34 and a veteran of gigs with Elvin Jones, Wayne Shorter, Natalie Cole and Jessye Norman, among others -- has matured into a player who blends a improvisational imagination with musical intelligence.

By the time the set’s final number arrived -- a medley reaching from a pensive, floating rendition of “I Wish I Knew” to a climactic romp through “Lover” and “Cherokee” -- the perils of jet lag, fatigue and sore throats had dissipated, wiped away by the Reed trio’s restorative prescription of energetic, straight-ahead, bebop-drenched jazz.

*

Eric Reed

Where: The Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., L.A.

When: 8 and 9:30 p.m. today-Sunday

Price: $25

Info: (310) 271-9039