The trio of Aaron Sizemore, Forest Stewart and Mike Warren occupy a unique niche in the Kansas City area. During its regular gigs at Music House School of Music, a Prairie Village instruction emporium overseen by Sizemore- the trio performs an otherwise neglected form of jazz.
On Thursday, February 27, the trio entertained more than a dozen people with an approach that might have sounded more in keeping with jazz heard in Lisbon, Oslo or Vienna than Kansas City.
Sizemore’s deliberate approach evokes contemporary guitarists including Kurt Rosenwinkel and Pat Metheny. Stewart often sounds indistinguishable from famed electric bassist Steve Swallow. And Warren is a first-call drummer with the range of Billy Hart.
Yet it’s repertoire that sets the trio apart. Strong original material is supplemented by impeccable covers. On Thursday the trio tackled Keith Jarrett’s “Bop-Bee” and “Alliance” by the expansive Kansas City saxophonist Matt Otto. Elegant echoes of Europe resounded in a Kansas suburb.