The Camilo group is everything a jazz trio should be. The band is so tight that it is impossible to tell where Camilo's impeccable arrangements end and the group's flawless interplay begins. Through eleven numbers, the trio repeatedly showed off its ability to turn on a dime, changing direction, rhythm, and mood almost without warning. At first dwarfed by the vast Palace of Fine Arts stage, the little unit turned out such a huge sound that the room eventually felt too small to contain them.

The first set focused primarily on material from the trio's new album, Triangulo, while the second brought in standards and ballads. In a lively pre-concert talk with local DJ Jesse "Chuy" Varela, Camilo described Triangulo as "a portrait of a trio." As he put it, "the trio has three angles, three points of view, that create one shape: a triangle of music." This concept was fully in evidence on the stage. Camilo and drummer Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez faced off from behind veritable fortresses: Camilo's great black grand piano on one side, and Hernandez' imposing array of gleaming percussion on the other. In the middle and slightly behind the others sat bassist Anthony Jackson, looking relatively vulnerable with his six-string electric bass and single effects pedal.

Camilo has an amazing blend of overwhelming passion and perfect technique. With some pianists, a classical background can be a handicap in a jazz setting, adding a vague stiffness to improvisation. But classicism can also be a jazz musician's greatest advantage. For Camilo, sweeping dramatic statements, reflective moments reminiscent of Chopin, and other classically influenced aspects all contributed mightily to the overall depth of the experience.

A surprising comparison occurred to me while watching Camilo play: somehow, his style reminded me very much of Chico Marx. This is not to say that his playing was humorous; rather, there is something about the way he holds his hands, animated and jumpy, suddenly bursting with unexpected firecracker-like activity. And he was having fun, breaking into grins every few minutes. He was a joy to watch.

Hernandez gets around. By Camilo's count, his drummer is a member of 21 separate groups, from rock to jazz to Latin. Hernandez' musical multilingualism fit right in, as he jumped from clave rhythms to the unusual time signatures favored by Camilo's more recent compositions. In his solos, Hernandez was a runaway locomotive, driving the music to ecstatic heights. But much like Camilo, who had equally searing solo flights, Hernandez never bashed for bashing's sake. Every thunderous blow made perfect sense for its moment. It was all musical.

Jackson was sadly under-amplified for the entire first set, and frequently disappeared into the background. When audible, he was a master of understatement, coaxing subtle lines from his unusual bass, which proved nearly as supple as a guitar. His spare lines and penchant for classically tinged high trills gave the others balance and drew the audience deeper into the group's sound.

In the pre-show conversation with Chuy Varela, Camilo was eloquent and showed a deep knowledge of musical history. He suggested at one point that we are living in the second golden age of Latin jazz. The first, which peaked in the 1940's and 50's, was mostly based on Cuban rhythms, such as the son and rhumba. Today, Latin musicians on the vanguard come from all over, and bring in a huge new range of rhythms from Brasil, Puerto Rico, Central America and elsewhere (Camilo himself is Dominican). But it all still resonates with the rest of the jazz world, and as Camilo's music amply demonstrated, it is high time that Latin jazz be liberated from its marginal status as a kind of fusion, and given proper attention as a vital part of the past, present, and future of jazz.

"ROCK 'N' RAUL" AT MASONIC

Caetano Veloso put on quite a show himself at Masonic Auditorium on October 25. With an elaborately choreographed light show, ear-battering sound and a thousand screaming groupies, it was more rock concert than jazz festival. Veloso's songwriting skills are legendary, with poetic lyrics and an inclusive musical reach. But if you didn't speak Portuguese, or weren't already a fan, it was the physical display more than the music that would have defined the evening.

Veloso presented a sort of living movie, with each song isolated into a distinct scene by a brief blackout, allowing complete shifts of atmosphere. Veloso would step back, assume the proper character for the song, and only then return to his microphone. His stage presence is very similar to that of his famous fan, David Byrne. Skinny and young-looking at sixty, Veloso would stand nearly motionless, breaking his deadpan delivery with brief pantomime gestures to illustrate the songs. His 8-piece backing group, which included guitar, bass, and cello (all electric) alongside a platoon of percussion, gave good if not particularly subtle support.

Veloso came across most effectively when playing his own guitar in smaller sub-groups, which included a quartet, a gorgeous duo with cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, and an "unplugged" set of four solo tunes. These last included a very nice surprise: a fragile English rendition of "Stars Fell on Alabama," which Veloso had never before sung in public. The more intimate setting allowed Veloso's beautiful, breezy voice to carry the songs aloft, and more closely matched the expectations of the jazzheads in attendance.

The show's nature was underscored at the end, when hundreds of young, mostly female fans came down from the balcony and rushed the stage for a series of encore numbers. A smattering of older jazzbos looked on, alternately bemused, befuddled, and getting into the groove.

When Forrest Bryant isn't writing about jazz or reading the box scores, he can be heard on the Bay Area airwaves as the host of a weekly radio show called "No Cover, No Minimum" (on KZSU, 90.1 FM). He also spends too much of his free time looking for things to write about, so if you're a part of the Bay Area jazz scene, drop Forrest a line and let him know what you're up to.