Melody in a Dream

Guitarist Steve Cardenas has played in a number of fine groups, including the late drummer Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band and Killer Joey, an outfit led by drummer Joey Baron. Baron holds down the drum seat in the trio featured here, and two Motian compositions, “Once Around the Park” and “In the Year of the Dragon,” are included. (Bassist Thomas Morgan rounds out the trio, and trumpeter Shane Endsley appears on three cuts.) Baron works wonders with his cymbals, Morgan is consistently inventive on the Cardenas ballad “Just One More Thing,” and the guitar work is gorgeous. Endsley makes a big sound on another original, “Ode to Joey,” a tip of the hat to Baron. The Victor Young and Sam Lewis classic “Street of Dreams” is rendered sparely, the better to savor every nuance of this ravishing version. The group swings in quiet but forceful ways on Lee Konitz’s “Subconscious-Lee,” where Cardenas and Endsley get into some compelling back and forth. Morgan plays a fine solo on Motian’s “In the Year of the Dragon,” which closes the album on a mellow note.