Mehldau's working trio, with the leader on piano, Larry Grenadier (bass) and Jorge Rossy (drums), is possibly the finest currently in jazz, so much was expected when they played Vicar Street last Friday as part of the ESB-Note Productions series.
They didn't disappoint. By the exalted standards of what was to follow, the opening pair of as yet untitled originals by Mehldau found the group feeling its way - beautiful trio playing, but without the unbuttoned confidence to push out the envelope they were to display on more familiar material. On a third Mehldau composition, At A Loss, they were more assured, bringing a wonderfully confident 3/4 time exploration of the piece to a relaxed and natural conclusion.
A memorable Alone Together, beginning with unaccompanied piano, found the pianist gradually thickening the texture until he was joined by the others in an engrossing stretching of the material in terms of harmony, structure, time and colour; that somehow a sense of form was retained was underlined by the coda, where gospel hints from the piano resolved into a vamp with the drums basically accompanied by the other instruments until the theme was briefly brought back and closed. He contrasted this with a tartly gentle ballad, Cry Me A River, to finish the set.
A marvellous second set which included supple and adventurous trio improvisations on The More I See You, Resignation and, especially, Long Ago And Far Away, showed this trio's undeniable quality as they really hit their stride. The sheer mutual responsiveness was remarkable, enabling them to take fresh paths with the knowledge of collective security, and though the piano is obviously the main voice, the others are so indispensable and the give and take so fertile that the concept of a lead voice was sometimes blurred to the point of being meaningless. It's risky, but they make it gel, keeping a sense of form and emotional completion. They - and Mehldau - have other dimensions. Perhaps the greatest performance of the evening was The Folks Who Live On The Hill.