A lot of casual punters tune out of traditional jazz piano trios before they've had a chance to deliver their message. Broadway tunes, unfolded with understated swing and propelled by tasteful rhythm sections, often say "warm-up band" to irregular listeners, who are waiting for the main attraction to blast them out of their seat with a sax.
David Newton, the Scottish pianist who was launching his new CD Halfway to Dawn, has had to carry this baggage around for a lot longer than his classy accomplishments deserve. He has proved such a superb accompanist (of singers, particularly) that he has been almost sidelined into that role. Meanwhile, Newton's affections for traditional thematic development, familiar song structures and the sometimes treacherous waters of the mainstream have maybe encouraged lazy listening to his achievements as both player and composer. But he repays close attention, particularly here.
Newton's idea of an acoustic piano trio is nowhere near as loose, impressionistic and open-ended as Keith Jarrett's has been, or Brad Mehldau's, or Bobo Stenson's - and his forthright song-based lyricism doesn't generally catch the charismatic mysteriousness all three can bring to a room. But his current trio with bassist Matt Miles and drummer Steve Brown is a little gem of group empathy in pursuit of straight-ahead swing.
From the off, when Newton introduced Bright New Day with offhand chords over Miles's bass vamp, the pianist's storytelling skills were evident, the casual theme building into a soft roar of insistent trills, punchy chordwork and sudden sprinting runs. Newton also made a shapely narrative out of the obliquely funky ballad Wishful Thinking, phrasing in half-stated figures as if nervous of damaging the keys.
On drums, Brown (a tall, hawk-nosed young man with an eager grin, who sits at a low-slung kit with the cymbals set at elbow-level) is a delight. He has an urbane understatement and sidelong wit that adds zip and buoyancy to the sounds around him. Alert to every approaching detail, he fills out melodies with hissing hi-hat snaps and briefly jolting rolls, drops back to minimalist rimshots and erupts into fizzing cymbal swing with an effect like a door suddenly swung open to a busy street. An unfashionable treasure.
