Scott Colley, Edward Simon, Brian Blade: Three Visitors

There are the many moments to hold and savor on Three Visitors, the second trio offering from pianist Edward Simon, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade. Like their 2017 eponymous debut Steel House (Artist Share), Three Visitors is artful, understated, elegant and so soul deep. A late night disk to rest with and to reflect upon days in the distance and days ahead.

Simon (SFJAZZ Collective), Colley (Andrew Hill and Herbie Hancock) and Blade are '90s post-boppers who have enjoyed each other's company with David Binney and in many studios and past stages. Here, they gather attention with Simon's wistful "Nostalgia." Quiet—like a gathering flurry—the music moves spaciously from a rich, masterful trio performance to a meditation accented by a string quartet. Rooted metaphorically in the Japanese philosophy of creating art from decay and destruction, Blade's elegantly cloudlike transformative "Kintsukuroi" heightens and advances the ruminative themes of "Nostalgia." Colley's deep resonance is essential here and his closing statement leaves a lasting impression. The trio then bring their collective histories and individual powers to the fore on a trio of emphatic Colley compositions: the darkly harmonic "Ellipsis" and the looser, more post-bop-animated "The Thicket" and "Three Visitors." Together, the three make up the beating heart of the music as well as the trio.

But it is at this juncture that Three Visitors unexplainably stumbles. "You Are" starts out with a muscular robust performance feverishly amped up by special guest Chris Potter's hot-stove sax solo, but the jabbing, almost predictable string intercessions and new age imploring by vocalist Jana Dagdagan break the vibe considerably. "I Wanna Be With You," featuring vocalist Becca Stevens, crosses the line entirely into smooth, neo-Sade-like pop jazz. Fortunately, the trio regroup and find themselves with the closing "Far Rockaway."

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