The week-long series of jazz performances at the Davis Gallery, Capel Street opened on Tuesday night with some delightful, high-quality music from an accomplished trio - Louis Stewart (guitar), Noel Kelehan (piano) and Peter Ind (bass). With everyone in good form, this group clicked into gear immediately and the degree of understanding evident recalled one of the most famous recordings of a group with this instrumentation - the Jim Hall/Carl Perkins/Red Mitchell trio which made a classic album for Pacific Jazz in the 1950s.
Stewart, Kelehan and Ind also gave the impression of a group whose members were at ease with each other. Behind the lightness of touch was a blend of tension and relaxation that gave the music a force beyond the polish and swing with which it was expressed. Not surprisingly, the material was familiar; standards such as Like Someone In Love, Love For Sale, Out Of Nowhere, How About You, My Romance, What Is This Thing Called Love?, Makin' Whoopee, Speak Low and jazz originals like Bluesology.
Such was the calibre of the playing that it's virtually impossible to single out any one performance over another. This was jazz of the kind of invention, swing and intimacy that occurs much less frequently than might be imagined when musicians come together on an ad hoc basis like this one. There was, however, one negative; the piano used rapidly went out of tune during the concert and by the start of the second set was, frankly, bad.
