For the 18th year jazz drummer and impresario Charles Bascome presented his Evening of Jazz at the City Hall Theatre on March 13 and 14. This year's featured artists were the quartet lead by violinist Christian Howes. His name may not be a household one, but it's a safe bet that this condition won't last very much longer. Virtuosity is almost a common place in jazz today, not only as a response to the intense competition among artists, but also as the sine qua non of the trade. In jazz speak: you gotta have the chops.

And chops Christian has in abundance. Besides this he has the fortunate gift of talking lovingly and intelligibly about the art he makes. He clearly is in love with jazz music. He also took time out to answer the question, What is jazz? That doubtlessly was on the minds of several members of the audience. The violin has a long history as a jazz instrument, and was present in some of the earliest jazz bands.

And Duke Ellington, as Ray Nance who in addition to playing trumpets, was an excellent violinist. It wasn't so much the violin that may have prompted the question, but the music itself. Much of it was original, and therefore unfamiliar to the hardcore audience. Mr. Howes seemed to be aware of this and took time out to give a succinct review of jazz history, and offer some personal comments on how jazz emerged after the American Civil war, and developed out of spirituals, Field Hollers, Blues and Work Songs. It used Call and Response, and was highly spontaneous.

Some people thought that it was synonymous with Swing. Be that as it may jazz was now a global music, to which everyone was bringing their own tradition. Therefore 'Jazz' was constantly open to revision.

Music, said Mr. Howes, is a metaphor to show us what's possible in life, and illuminates things society seldom manifests. Yet music shows us that all these integrations are possible. Mr. Howes, who was born in 1972 and was initially Suzuki trained, encountered the several strains of the Afro-American music tradition, especially Gospel. "I've been enriched," he said. Accompanying Mr. Howes was another musician with perhaps an even more remarkable cross cultural pedigree; Frederico Lechnner, originally from Argentina, now living and working in Spain, where he is a star in his own right.

He is the complete pianist; technically masterful, equipped with a vast emotional range of expression, including an acute mathematical sense, and not a little humour. Jazz musicians have always been enchanted but the rhythmic possibilities implicit in triple time. There is a devise called a Hemiola, which imposes rhythmic figures bases on two over a rhythm bases on three. By deliberately shifting the accents, the musician can launch extensive passages in which the rhythm and the harmonic and melodic structures they superimpose on the original base can delight the initiated, and confused the unwary casual listened. Often this very sophisticated phenomenon might strike a listener as mere cacophony. This Frederico employed several times in his solos, especially on his own composition 'Bebop Conga'.

Of course, it is a drummer's delight, as he then gets to contribute to the complexity of the music being made up in the moment, which is one of the glorious things about jazz. Drummer Evan Gregor, who began in the church, never missed and opportunity to exploit these possibilities in 'All The Things You Are' which was done in three-four time, the music took on the aspect of a complex machinery, evolving further and further away from it's original nucleus, until it was time to return to home base, so to speak.

Howe's playing has a charming directness, eschewing vibrato, which let's the violin like the human voice, which is a naturally chromatic instrument, sing. His improvisations sometimes contain themselves within vocal possibilities. I'm thinking now especially of a beautiful country rock composition, but not always of course. Sometimes he uses overtones with laser like precision. Also, he evokes electronic effects with his amplified violin, working with feedback from his amplifier; playing his instrument as if it were a guitar, he gives the effect of a rock guitarist. His rendition of Paganni's 24th Capriccio. Other standouts were 'Tristeza' the evocative 'Ah Ho Song', played on an Asian mode.

Bassist Cedric Easton was meticulous on his electric upright. My preference is for the resonance of the acoustic variety, but that was not what was on offer. Nevertheless, he showed himself a master of his instrument and in a creative improviser. The whole unit gelled pleasantly.

The evening's emcee was, as usual Derrick (Cousin Juicy) Symonds, Toni Barri's Trio began the evening with some of the numbers you can hear any Friday Night at Hubie's. Noteworthy, beside Toni's tirelessly inventive improvisations was Earl Leader's vocals. A favourite was the atmospheric 'Stella By Starlight,' and 'Tenderly', which amusingly was anything but tender, as they delivered a spicy Latin tinged version. From the applause and the obligatory encore call, the audience seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed the evening.