Wednesday night's headline concert for the ESB Dublin Jazz Festival produced wonderful music by Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen's group.
The great Danish bassist, popularly known as NHOP, provided some of the most lyrical and accomplished bass playing heard here - notwithstanding the visit not long ago of bassist Charlie Haden's Quartet West - since the great Dave Holland gave a solo bass performance at the John Field Room a few years ago.
Apart from his instrumental virtuosity, which made him and the bass seem as one, NHOP is like a poet of melody, especially on ballads; in fact his musical "presence" is so strong that even occasional lapses of intonation did little to dilute the impact of his song-like playing. He was beautifully supported by drummer Jonas Johansen and Ulf Wakenius, a virtuoso guitarist with a highly eclectic style; thus, in the familiar context of this, his working group, he could explore whatever byways his imagination took him along, secure in the knowledge that they would be there with him.
While the trio could trade as well in excitement, as an uptempo You And The Night And The Music abundantly proved, as it could with the relaxed, easy swing in Our Love Is Here To Stay, it was the ballads which provided the most musical sustenance of the evening. Old Folks, Friends Forever (a touching tribute to the late great pianist, Kenny Drew) and Ellington's Come Sunday got sublime interpretations. The encore, A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square, with truly beautiful bass and guitar solos, was an incredibly moving performance.