Grooving with the Tarik Shah Trio at Jazz on Jay

Bassist Tarik Shah boasts the most eye-popping track record of those playing Jazz on Jay.

After studying with Slam Stewart, the only student the eminent bassist ever taught, Shah toured the world with singer Betty Carter and played at the White House with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. From the 1980s onward, Shah has performed and/or recorded with Ahmad Jamal, Abby Lincoln, the World Saxophone Quartet, Claudio Roditi, Steve Turre, Hamiet Bluiett, Fontella Bass, and dozens more.

Arriving here in 2018, Shah got busy, playing with Mark Kleinhaut at Jazz at the Spring in Saratoga Springs, with Cliff Brucker’s New Circle, and at Jazz on Jay with young saxophonist Awan Rashad and with his own trio.

That same trio now returns to Jazz on Jay: Shah, acoustic and electric bass; Luke Franco, guitar; and Matt Niedbalski, drums.

Niedbalski’s grandfather, mother and two uncles played bass, saxophone, flute, and drums or sang. His drummer uncle was his first inspiration; Elvin Jones his jazz icon. His first band was “a really terrible four-piece rock band with no vocalist,” but he was playing jazz by his teens. In a Saratoga coffeehouse gig: “We played standards and got paid 20 bucks and a sandwich.”

Niedbalski said Shah’s trio improvises “with respect to the melody and open-ness to the unknown.”

In a previous Jazz on Jay show, Shah’s trio played Quincy Jones’s “Quintessence,” Duke Ellington’s “Caravan,” Mal Waldron’s “Soul Eyes,” and Shah originals, including “Sunday’s Hardship Blues” and “My Shining Hour.” A report noted, “They balanced standards with originals to inviting effect.”

This time around, Shah said, “We will perform some of my original compositions: ‘Sunday’s Hardship Blues,’ ‘Ibn,’ and ‘The News on Puff;’ also a tune by the late great Rahn Burton called ‘The Green Veil’ and an original by my guitarist (Franco) called ‘Trillium.’” Shah said, “The rest will be jazz standards.”

As for their approach, Niedbalski joked, “It’s a good thing we are playing outside,” using the jazz players’ term for freedom.

All Jazz on Jay concerts is free through support from the New York State Council on the Arts, Schenectady County, the Upstate Coalition for a Fairgame, the Schenectady Foundation and the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation. www.nippertown.com is the series media sponsor.

Showtime is noon at the Jay Street Marketplace. Rain site: Robb Alley at Proctors adjacent to Apostrophe. Free.