Wednesday's Dublin Jazz Society concert reunited the front line which made the fine Three For The Road HEP album over a decade ago - Janusz Carmello (pocket trumpet/flugelhorn), Spike Robinson (tenor) and Louis Stewart (guitar). It turned out to be an enjoyable encounter, full of felicities despite one or two moments of uncertainty, with the principals clearly stimulated by each other and by a good rhythm section led by pianist Noel Kelehan, with Michael Coady (bass) and Pete Ainscough (drums).
Apart from the generally superior level of soloing, the evening's pleasures included a brilliant exposition of the almost lost art of jazz rhythm guitar by Stewart, immediately evident from the boost it gave the opening Blues In The Closet and If I Should Lose You, the last done as a medium-paced bossa. On both, Carmello was impressively authoritative, with one of his major influences, Clifford Brown, to be heard in his attack, buttressing the fertile flow of ideas. Switching to flugelhorn for, among others, Polka Dots And Moonbeams, he was less secure technically but still full of invention; later he was to produce his best work with the instrument on You Don't Know What Love Is.
Galvanised by what was happening around him, Robinson was in particularly good form, offering one of the performances of the night on his ballad feature, True Is Love. With Stewart in typically commanding form himself, and Kelehan playing beautifully, the sextet romped through standards like Dearly Beloved and If I Were A Bell and had a good time with the seldom-performed Pent-Up House. It's been four years since Carmello last appeared here - too long, but it's been worth the wait.
