After the vibrancy and freshness of their debut album, Verso, the visit of the trio of Maria Pia De Vito (voice), John Taylor (piano) and Ralph Towner (guitar) to The Shelter, Vicar Street, was a disappointment. This disappointment was tempered, however, by the pleasure of hearing Towner's beguilingly attractive guitar on his first visit to Dublin.
As a trio, however, they offered little sense of risk or excitement. The impression that they were going down welltrodden paths was reinforced by the preponderance of material from their CD in the one-set concert and by the similarity of approach they took, either in duo or in trio, to pieces like Scugnizzeide, After thought, Al tramonto, Chiara and I Knew It Was You, for example. Despite occasional pitching uncertainties from De Vito, an accomplished and unusual singer, it was adept and neatly, if fussily, polished to the point where there seemed little capacity to generate surprise.
Had Taylor and Towner had more space to engage in dialogue, things might have been different. They were absorbing whenever they got a chance to mesh, with Towner, in particular, turning in some superb work in an exhibition of taste, technique, beautiful soloing and lyric responsiveness.
