JAZZ REVIEW : Bryant, Eicher: Effortless Skill

Hip, laid-back and gentle are words that came to mind while hearing Betty Bryant perform at the Westwood Marquis. The singer-pianist has been a local resident since the mid-’50s, but her visibility around town has been as understated and low-profiled as her music.

For the last two or three years, Bryant has been working with bassist Greg Eicher, and the partnership has produced a musically stimulating, almost seamlessly creative interactivity between the two players.

Friday’s opening set, for example, included a far-ranging, stylistically eclectic program of tunes, ranging from the bossa nova of “Corcovado” to the be-bop of “Jordu.” Regardless of style or substance, however, Bryant’s piano and Eicher’s bass came together with deceptively effortless ease.

While she is neither a powerful improviser nor an aggressive rhythmic player, Bryant’s Kansas City blues roots generated a brisk, floating swing that brought buoyancy and light-heartedness to virtually everything she played. Eicher was an ideal companion, responsive and supportive, occasionally taking off on spirited solos of his own.

The high points came on those numbers in which Bryant added her attractive contralto to the mix. A better-than-average jazz singer, with strong traces of Sarah Vaugahn and Carmen McRae, she was particularly appealing on the Portuguese-language bossa nova pieces, as well as a darkly whimsical original, “Don’t Fall in Love With Me.”

The Bryant-Eicher duo’s music, with its softly lyrical insinuations and bright rhythmic energies, seems perfectly chosen for the warmly muted environs of the Westwood Marquis Bar. They continue at the location, Tuesdays through Saturdays, until Oct. 27.