Emily Hay / Brad Dutz / Wayne Peet: Emily Hay, Brad Dutz, Wayne Peet

These three creative musicians from Southern California's avant-garde jazz scene play a large role in keeping the torch lit. Each has recorded free jazz time and again, and their local concert performances continue to provide the sparks that unite generations of music lovers.

On this unique session, Emily Hay vocalizes through her flute and blows a mighty mean streak that picks up emotion along the way. She carries each melodic fragment on high and packs it with energy. She inspires. As co-host of the experimental program Trilogy on radio station KXLU-FM in Los Angeles, she's in a position to know where our freedoms lie. Here, with her two creative partners, she unleashes a spontaneous program of thought-provoking episodes.

Brad Dutz provides the trio's rhythmic foundation with a large number of exotic textures. In a live concert performance, he can be seen moving constantly back and forth between tables of small percussion tools as well as drums and mallet instruments. On this session, he colors with multiple textures, but remains for the most part in the background. Dutz' experience has taught him that there's a time to step out front and there's a time to coalesce. As a versatile jazz percussionist who works all of the Southern California genres, Dutz communicates with a broad audience.

Pianist and organist Wayne Peet gives this session its harmonic colors. Gentle and polite, he turns his attention to the delicate nature of flute, voice and small percussion. Consequently, the session turns pretty and avoids the angst that sometimes follows avant-garde musicians around. Like Dutz, Peet keeps up with other areas of jazz while honoring his free spirit as much as possible. He's led some bodacious funk band sessions in L.A., but is probably better known for the music that he's provided for films such as Bull Durham and White Men Can't Jump.

With this trio album, Hay, Dutz and Peet come alive through their music. Each does his or her part to make sure that the session remains subdued and relatively quiet. However, there are moments when the mood shifts to eerie and tense. The world needs that kind of balance. Spontaneous, free and unattached, their collaboration could have come from any part of the world. There are no ties. This trio persuades without format.

Their "Hot Japanese Water, a personal favorite, rumbles with a consistent rhythm while chasing natural motions all over the place. Another piece takes on the sheen of Ravel's "Bolero, stopping for a brief respite with flute, theremin and light drum friction. "A Lotta T's takes the theremin for a ride while Hay issues wordless vocals and nonsense lyrics that focus on the letter "T, giving us plenty of reasons to smile. The trio's free jazz session, which comes recommended, serves as a genuine pick-me-up.

Visit Emily Hay and Brad Dutz on the web.