Trichotomy: Variations

The EST and Bad Plus connections are pretty clear in the music of this decade-old Australian trio, but the compositions of pianist Sean Foran and drummer John Parker impart a lot of character to its take on contemporary jazz fusion, and it shares with both of its major ­models a group ability to shift seamlessly ­between structures and ­spontaneity. ­Trichotomy's early enthusiasm for fellow-Australian band the Necks is also apparent in a ­fondness for lengthy ­pulsating one-note patterns and the subtle animation it injects into the most spacious and slow-moving episodes. The fast Latin pulse of the opening track, with its flowing piano lines over an intricate left-hand ­repeat and abruptly hushed and dreamy ­countermelody exploits the Bad Plus's appealing jump-cut style, as does the following slow floater with its Jarrett-like piano upsurge midway. A violin, viola and sax offer a caressing contrast over an ostinato and a snappy groove on the fourth track, as does ­Peter Knight's Arve Henriksen/late-Miles trumpet later on. Sometimes the band offers 21st-­century updates on a bright, dancing, Chick Corea-like lyricism: sometimes a fierce improv edge deploying Patrick Marchisella's electronically distorted acoustic bass; sometimes a tumbling hard-bop piano approach but over a ­castanet-like ­chatter; sometimes plucked-strings musings. These three make the resources of the conventional piano trio go a long way.