Inside Straight plays its cards well in two-night stand at the Jazz Kitchen

From left, Martin, McBride, Allen, Wilson and Wolf in full cry

 A marvelous midweek spike in Jazz Kitchen audiences could only be explained by an outstanding engagement, and that was four sets over two evenings by Christian McBride and Inside Straight.

I caught the final set Wednesday, and it lived up to the online raves that had come my way, especially about the gig's Tuesday night launch. A seasoned bandleader, McBride has added to his already considerable acclaim as master of the double bass with his smooth, charming broadcast work, including in 2016 co-hosting the American Pianists Association's competition finals. He is a multiple Grammy Awards winner.

From the stage, McBride credited Warren Wolf, a spectacular vibraphonist he first encountered years ago at the Aspen Festival, with the very existence of Inside Straight, the touring quintet that also includes Carl Allen, drums; Steve Wilson, saxophones, and Peter Martin, piano. 

That ensemble delivered outstanding versions of original music in the fourth set. Invariably, the group managed to sound smooth and coordinated without coming across as overarranged. The energy was unrelenting, and the sometimes intricate structure of the pieces was easily mastered.

Wolf's solo in the opening piece revealed a gift quite applicable to the band's book. He could double up the rate of notes delivered within phrases that had just sounded spacious. In doing so, there was no indication of becoming frantic or of a hard shifting of gears. There were similar surprises in texture and rate of delivery in Martin's solo; all of a sudden you would hear a striding left-hand pattern emerge or something ornamental in the right hand become substantial.

Allen put all sorts of variety into his solo on "Gang Gang," a venture marked by a rapid bass-drum undercurrent, on top of which snippets of tom-tom pounding were placed. He   avoided the cliché of climaxing with excessive cymbal displays; instead he dialed back the drum focus into near-silence, bringing a hush to the whole room with the way he ended. 

Bandstand fun: McBride and Allen enjoying themselves.

In all his sweetness and strength, Wilson was featured on soprano saxophone in McBride's "Star Beam," which included the bandleader's first solo of the set. A major feature of Inside Straight's current recording "Live at the Village Vanguard,"  Wilson's "Ms. Angelou" had a torrential plucked solo by McBride, with a proliferation of rapid notes that would have put note-spinners like Eddie Gomez to shame. 

With the front line of Wilson and Wolf sitting out, the set's one standard, Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady," displayed the dead-center intonation McBride brings to his arco work. Sometimes, on recordings at least, excellent jazz bassists seem to me not invariably in tune when they pick up the bow. This trio version of the classic featured an all-things-to-all-people solo by the pianist, getting a lot of response from the "amen corner" McBride had celebrated in earlier remarks. 

The full ensemble ended the set with Freddie Hubbard's "Theme for Kareem," a piece as explosive as the basketball star for whom it's named. With a Martin solo in between, the tune featured exciting exchanges between alto sax and vibes, then bass and drums. A tumultuous ovation at the end got the return gratitude of the band's collective front-and-center bow. 

[Photos by  Rob Ambrose]