Pamela Hines Trio: 3.2.1.

Pianist Pamela Hines has been busy on the jazz scene for fifteen years, producing many excellent CDs featuring her quartets and quintets, as well as pairings with several top-notch vocalists. A first-rate composer of engaging and memorable tunes who put out one of the coolest Christmas albums, New Christmas (Spice Rack, 2008), she should be better known. 3.2.1, a superb, mostly trio affair, might just push her profile closer to where it belongs.

Most of Hines' recordings, including New Christmas, have relied heavily on her own compositions. 3.2.1. takes a different tack, leaning on standards with an emphasis on material by pianist Bill Evans, starting right off with his "34 Skiddoo." Here, however, Hines and trio mates Dave Clark (bass) and Yoron Israel (drums) sound feistier—happier, even—than the normally introspective Evans.

On "B Minor Waltz," the trio cools things off a bit, showcasing Hines' exquisite touch and Israel's supple brush work, but the bounce in the trio's step is still there, riding Clark's warm heartbeat. The classic "East of the Sun" takes things out on the edge, an up-tempo high-wire roll, with Hines sounding particularly caffeinated.

The album title refers to its music being presented with the trio on seven tunes, a duo on one and solo on another. The old American Songbook chestnut, "I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry," is laid down as a piano solo rumination, its sweet reverence suggesting, perhaps, that a future CD-length solo excursion might be in order for Hines.

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