The music in the concerts first half was sympathetic and duly elegant but also vaguely unsettled, even a bit labored. When intermission arrived abruptly, after well under an hour it registered as a relief. There was still time to regain the lead.
Mr. Jarrett has conditioned his audiences to respect the fickle spark of inspiration, whether hes appearing solo or with the trio, his primary outlet for the last 27 years. This mutual understanding can lend his performances a feeling both momentous and precious. He cant force his best playing, and you cant force it out of him. What you can do is wait and hope and savor the searching, which yields its own rewards. (The first half did include a tantalizing gloss on Ornette Colemans When Will the Blues Leave? and a My Funny Valentine infused with gothic beauty.)
There was reassurance, anyway, in the setting. This was the opening salvo of the first CareFusion Jazz Festival New York. That event shares a pedigree with its precursor, the JVC Jazz Festival, and it has inherited a dominant role in the summer jazz calendar, as this booking seemed to insist. Notwithstanding the sign over the stage, it could have passed for a big-ticket JVC event of yore. So the sold-out house, which appeared to include many repeat visitors, could trust that this concert too would turn out fine.
It did. Returning to the stage after a generous recess, Mr. Jarrett played a fast-flickering series of notes in his upper register, as if warming up the flue. He then eased into a melody, quickly recognizable as Someday My Prince Will Come (applause), and fashioned an inventive but melodically grounded solo.
Next came Autumn Leaves (applause), and here he took greater liberties, connecting his ideas with the ease that had seemed to elude him before. His rhythm was crisp and authoritative over the swinging baseline set by Mr. Peacock and Mr. DeJohnette. This was the trio in proper gear, expressing the right precision looseness and a trademark sense of suspended gravity.
Balladry is still one of Mr. Jarrett's imposing specialties, the pursuit that best pairs his gifts for flowing sentimentality and cold logic. (He has a new ballads album on ECM, Jasmine, made with the bassist Charlie Haden. Its exquisite.) By that token, slow, romantic songs were really the highlights. All the Sad Young Men and a first-half standout, Answer Me My Love, gleamed softly, each suggesting an intrepidness tempered by humility.
And another ballad, Once Upon a Time, made for a perfect first encore, eliciting a roaring cheer. For the second encore, there was God Bless the Child in a gospel-funk vein, as it appeared on this trios 1983 debut. Mr. Jarrett stretched it out, riffing soulfully over a single chord. He was embracing a spirit of abandon, but he also knew exactly what he was doing.
The CareFusion Jazz Festival continues through Saturday at various locations; nycjazzfestival.com. Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette perform on June 30 in Toronto (torontojazz.com) and on July 3 in Montreal (montrealjazzfest.com).
