The name of the drummer rarely features on the ticket. Often anonymous workhorses, they are literally hidden at the back - the percussive butt of "drummer jokes" from even their fondest colleagues. It's a state of being which perhaps explains why so many of them seem to take full advantage of a thunderous drum solo just to make themselves properly heard, forcing themselves with a vengeance on both the audience and their fellow musicians.
Not so Jorge Rossy, however. As a third of the much-praised Brad Mehldau Trio, his is indisputably a musician's role - his job to be a real musical part of what's happening - and just keeping the beat sometimes seems to be the last thing on his mind.
From a musical family in Barcelona, Rossy first trained at a classical school which also happened to have a jazz department. In later years he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he first came into contact with some of the biggest names in jazz today, but as a teenager in Barcelona, it was the work of bassist Jaco Pastorius which first sent him along the complex route of jazz.
"My brother told me about him, and the first night that I went out to see a live concert it was Weather Report, and it made an incredible impression," he says. "It changed my thing completely, because before that I was really into The Beatles and Elton John, and then, later, Genesis and Yes - a little more esoteric or whatever - but after Weather Report I became, overnight, a jazz snob."
So, in a move he now regrets, Rossy sold all his Beatles records and left pop behind. He began to seek out the great names in jazz, and his teachers tipped him off to check out Miles Davis in particular. At the time, he was playing trumpet, but his lessons in classical percussion were leading him towards paying particular attention to drummers. Those he found most attractive were the ones he found rather more musical than spectacular.
"Some drummers play really complicated, but not all. Someone like Billy Higgins is more about the understanding of the music. It's such a long process that it's hard to describe in a nutshell, but I really believe in musical awareness much more than chops - everything else comes pretty easy with time," he says.
"I was never very constant in terms of who I liked. I had tons of heroes, but they changed. When I started, my first idol was Ringo, then Peter Erskine, then Jack de Johnette. Like a lot of people who came from the rock thing, I started with the more fusion guys, and then got interested in the be-bop drummers later. I love all of them, but I think Roy Haynes is a great model.
"Apart from being one of the greatest drummers, I think he has a way of playing which is very melodic and is not about chops at all. He doesn't play rudiments - he's basically very natural and very direct. I tend to go in that direction."
Rossy learned at first hand from experienced drummers like Ben Riley and Billy Hart, and while these might only have been week-long clinics, he found them "inspirational". It meant that, by the time he met his fellow young turks in Berklee, he already had some well-developed ideas about what sort of drummer he wanted to be - so much so that, ironically, he didn't really think of himself as a drummer at all.
"I think of myself as more of a musician who happens to play the drums. Maybe that has been one of my strong points? Musical awareness is the most important thing, because a drummer has a huge responsibility in the sound of the band, and what the drummer needs, aside from some basic skill, is a lot of imagination - what parts of the tune you make more dramatic and so on. You can really colour a lot, but that's the big problem, because the drummers who are very much into the drums tend to be hyper-aware of the drums, and they lose awareness of what's really needed . . ."
Now back living in Spain, Rossy is concentrating on piano. Surprisingly, he says that he's "not really attached to the drums" at all. It all seems a little extraordinary, but then Rossy developed as a musician in fairly extraordinary company - many of the young stars of today were his classmates at Berklee. Certainly there are those who argue that the college or academic side of jazz has been over-emphasised at the expense of "natural talent", but Rossy wouldn't agree. No, he didn't learn his trade in the nightclubs of 1940s New York, but he learned his trade even so.
`School was basically what a club meant to these older guys. It was basically a place where I met musicians. In Berklee I was a trumpet student, but I really just wanted to play. There were some nice theory classes I could have taken, but I just did ensemble - so I would play during the day, and then from six until one in the morning, I would play sessions.
"So, for me, Berklee was a place where I played and met musicians. Instead of meeting them in a club, I met them in school. And it was great that I connected with a whole generation of musicians. I'm talking about Mark Turner, Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and then Brad. They were still in development, but they were playing at a very high level. And the great thing about that situation is that everybody develops his own style around the other one."
There are jazz critics who might suggest that many of today's young stars have had it far too easy. Some of them seem to go with such apparent ease from college to record deal that it all seems a little indecent, but as Rossy is quick to point out, there aren't many. In fact, he would argue that things are far from easy. He might even go as far as to suggest that, with such high standards at present, things are actually more difficult than before.
"That happens in certain cases. Like Roy Hargrove became famous overnight. But someone like Kurt Rosenwinkel was playing at an extremely high level 10 years ago already, and now he's just starting to be known. Its true that everybody can record with a small label, but it doesn't mean that you're going to have the budget to tour, and it's really hard. Even with Brad, it's only in the last three years that I have been playing bigger venues. When I arrived in New York we would play in the street. I would play with Joshua Redman and Mark Turner in the park because we didn't have any gigs.
"There are two kinds of clubs in New York - there's places like the Vanguard and the Blue Note, where you only play if you have a big record deal, and then there's the places where you basically play for tips. So its just the same as playing in the street. But it's cool. You're doing it for the inspiration and the experience of playing."
For this select generation of younger musicians, the hard work is finally beginning to pay off. Some have record deals with major labels (the Brad Mehldau Trio are on Warner Brothers), and many of them are earning huge reputations as innovators and stylists. Crucially for the musicians themselves, however, they are creating something which is more than just a re-hashed tribute to the legends. Ever wary of recycling, the best of these young jazzers are making brand new legends of their own.
"The thing that's very weird is that I'm only 36, and it's already happening. In Spain, I'm connecting with younger musicians, and I've met one great guitar player who sounds like Kurt Rosenwinkel. You can hear in his playing that he loves Kurt and that he has checked him out thoroughly. And there are certainly several piano players who have definitely checked out Brad. So it's now, it's happening and it's happening way faster than I thought."
Jorge Rossy plays with the Brad Mehldhau Trio on Tuesday and Wednesday at Vicar Street, Dublin