JAZZ REVIEW : Kellaway Does an Acoustic Turn at Le Cafe : JAZZ REVIEW : Kellaway Plays Acoustic at Le Cafe

We are fortunate to be living in an age when, for all the inroads of artificial keyboard machinery, there are giants around to remind us of the majesty inherent in the grand piano. Roger Kellaway, who played Tuesday and Wednesday in the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks, is such a man.

It’s not that Kellaway avoided later developments; at one time or another he has been involved in everything from film scores to contemporary art music and electronics. But when he chooses to play regular jazz on a regular piano, it is a profoundly moving experience to be in an intimate room with him.

Happy to work at a venue where no food is served and every table faces the bandstand (in New York, he said, “all the clubs are restaurants and everybody talks�), Kellaway commanded instant attention with the opening, oddly atonal chime effects that led into “If I Were a Bell.� Soon he was off and cooking, simultaneously engaging the listener at three levels: Melodically, with wildly skittering downward runs and sudden clusters of chords; harmonically, with unexpected changes; and rhythmically, with his implacably swinging left hand.

“All Blues� was a masterpiece of dynamic contrasts, with a long slow fade leading to a great swell and long-held tremolo. John Guerin’s sticks-on-cymbals interlude was superb, and Chuck Domanico’s bass solo as intriguing as his interaction with Kellaway. The three, who have played together off and on for 20 years, are as close as triplets.

Kellaway’s solo number, “I’ll Never Be the Same,� was a vivid if occasionally ornate reminder of his ability to dispense with a rhythm section. Then it was back to the trio and “Secret Love,� as Doris Day (who helped to win this song an Oscar) never dreamed of hearing it.

With a 30-year career of composing and playing behind him, Kellaway, who lived here for many years, today is at a creative peak. New York’s gain is indeed our loss, and to hear him describe it, he doesn’t even seem to care.