Ahmad Jamal, One World Theatre, March 24

Ahmad Jamal

One World Theatre, March 24

Hard to say who it speaks better of, Austin's One World Theatre or Ahmad Jamal himself, but what was essentially an off-night for a piano trio still came off like some enchanted evening in a postwar Paris basement. Credit goes to both camps, obviously, the nearly 70-year-old pianist playing like the old pro and legend he is despite never quite connecting with his fine rhythm section, and the ultra-intimate Tuscan-style villa out on Bee Caves Road continuing to feel like a cozy living room. Think the Cactus Cafe for jazz. Prices, of course, are a bit steeper than the Texas Union, but for the caliber of jazz One World Theatre is bringing in, it makes you wonder how Hartt Stearns' nascent nonprofit arts organization can afford acts like McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock without a university endowment. "KUT," explained Stearns during his customary welcome to the miniature Bass Concert Hall. "And $75,000 from the City Arts Commission." The Live Music Capital putting cash where its slogan is by sponsoring world-class musical acts otherwise available only during UT's stellar PAC season? During the second of two sets, the answer Saturday night was 90 minutes of, if not jazz immortality, then at least local lore. Watching Jamal's skinny brown hands skating over the 88s, picking insistently at a beguiling minor-key melody one moment, then ripping down the length of the keyboard with a flourish the next, was truly exhilarating -- even when the boss was motioning at his two young assistants to speed it up or slow it down. Both shined on their individual solos, but as a trio, there was obviously none of the telepathy that develops from musicians playing together for any decent length of time. Tellingly, Jamal's best-known tune, "Poinciana," which enjoyed a comeback in The Bridges of Madison County, threw off even fewer sparks than Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, because the trio obviously hadn't gotten to know each other yet. The hard, firm "Acorn" ("something we recorded in Paris," announced Jamal), and the soft bass tones of "Whisper" more than made up for "Poinciana," which nevertheless drew an appreciative hand from the demonstrative capacity crowd, as did every time Jamal would whip his hands down the keys and then leap off the piano bench like a magician disappearing a rabbit. Exhilarating. Get 'em all, Hartt: Abbey Lincoln, Jon Hendricks, John Zorn's Masada. Jazz dreams hard in Austin.