The ever-expanding Smoke Jazz Club series, all recorded live on the club's Broadway premises, provides a valuable window on the New York scene and none more so than with this rewarding trio set. In all the hoo-ha devoted to the likes of Jarrett and Mehldau, it's too easy to overlook someone like Chestnut. Now 51, he's clearly in great shape, adept at investigating a rich variety of material, a genuinely explorative player who knows how to cut and paste a great solo. Eclectic for sure, as much in his choice of material as in his absorption of latter-day influences, opening here with two tunes by the late John Hicks, a pianist who evidently impressed Chestnut greatly. Chestnut really comes into his own as a blues player, the touch limpid yet often spare, building intensity over Lewis's drive. If I suggest he has something of Oscar Peterson's keyboard presence, it's not to say that Chestnut imitates OP's harmonic stance just that he has comparable keyboard authority and knows how to command interest throughout a live set. It's also true that he knows the canon well, interspersing pieces by Billy Strayhorn (his deconstruction of ‘Chelsea Bridge’ is masterly) as well as ‘Giant Steps’ and ‘Bags Groove’ (given a gospelly revamp) in among his own things and those by Hicks. There's a lot of music here and all of it worthwhile, Lundy and Lewis the perfect companions. It would be good to see Chestnut over here sometime soon.