As for the venue, the Blue Note is an attractive restaurant/bar in a trendy Village setting with a number of annoying quirks. Most egregious is the effort to pack in more bodies per square inch than should be allowed by city fire code. (Thank goodness for the city smoking ban!) Tables that probably were meant for four are saddled with six and space between tables challenges even the most svelte waitstaff to squeeze through. When we checked in 90 minutes early, we learned that the entire front midsection was reserved for a party of 28, leaving the early arrivals to grab the best seats at the sides and rear. And as we heard muttered many times, the waitstaff really dislikes serving the tables along the wall--probably because it requires such gymnastics to reach them. The distraction was constant throughout the set--waitstaff trying to squeeze by tables to deliver the entrees or take orders; patrons leaving their seats (often with considerable difficulty) throughout the 80-minute set, heading up the stairs to the restrooms (or was it the gift shop?); and the general clatter and clinking as food and drink were carelessly delivered. And why is it necessary to drop off every table's tab 20 minutes before the set ends? This only caused further commotion, stumbling, and muttering. The Blue Note schedules at least an hour between the end of the early set and start of the late set--plenty of time to deal with dinner tabs and clean up.

The Blue Note is a popular venue for live recordings, but from my experience the recording engineers must pull their hair out trying to eliminate the ambient noise. The sound was reasonably good from my seat off to the side and behind piano, but the shape of the room ---very wide and shallow--means that a lot of patrons will be sitting off to the side. I suspect that the sound mixes better when you are seated somewhere in the middle.

Saturday at the Village Vanguard: You have to love the Village Vanguard. The décor probably has seen little change since the place opened in 1935; there's no food service, just drinks. It's a pretty small space and the tables and benches are cramped. But the sound system may be New York's finest; you can call the night before and still end up sitting at the front; the waitstaff are unobtrusive; and the audience takes its jazz very seriously. On stage for a three-night stand was the legendary guitarist Jim Hall with young monster pianist Geoffrey Keezer. In some ways this is an unlikely combination, with the typically cool and mellow septuagenarian Hall on the stand with a highly creative, unbridled thirty-something improviser. Yet they have appeared together before at the Vanguard--Keezer was one of the pianists appearing on Hall's 1997 recording, Panorama: Live at the Village Vanguard (Telarc).

This was Jim Hall's show; he gave Keezer plenty of room to stretch out but never let him go too far. Sitting in the front row, it was easy to see and hear the veteran guitarist's nonverbal as well as verbal direction (e.g., "Stay in D, don't shift to G"). Their approaches to the music reflect both generational and stylistic differences, with Hall taking a more straight-forward path while Keezer's is more abstract and experimental. At times the combination blended as surely as yellow and blue make green, as on the exquisitely conceived "End the Beguine"; at other times the mix was more yin and yang, as on the opening "My Funny Valentine" where Hall's melodic single lines seemed to pale when challenged by Keezer's deconstruction. Even when the two musicians seemed at cross purposes, they always managed to find a resolution, making for a most interesting evening.

"End the Beguine" exemplified the duo at its best. Starting off with Hall's slapped chords and Keezer mimicking a bass guitar sound by manually dampening the piano strings, the duo created an Ellingtonian vibe, a lyrical "Caravan" for two with the orchestral sound of a larger ensemble. Keezer's swinging basslines complemented Hall's slap chords and glissando, with the two switching the treble and bass roles before returning to a repeat of the introductory slaps and zings. Hall dedicated "Body and Soul" to Vanguard owner Lorraine Gordon, a reading that was more lyrical than soulful and featuring rich single lines from both musicians as well as heavily textured embellishments from Keezer. Hall's tribute to silent film's Ben Blue, titled "Bent Blues," was the most quirky tune of the set, featuring off-kilter rhythms and a dissonant guitar melody over the piano's bass vamp, before Keezer took off on a discordant, two-fisted adventure of his own. The resulting interplay between guitar and piano resembled two trains heading toward the same tunnel from opposite tracks, building steam before slowing down, avoiding the collision but enjoying the danger.

Hall's "Dream Steps" (based on the chords of "You Stepped Out of a Dream") featured a melodic introduction from the guitar followed by some dueling twists and jumps, with Hall's pick-popping pushing Keezer to take up the challenge with some equally popping right-hand runs. Particularly here, Keezer seemed ready to take off for another galaxy but held on, closing out the tune with a dissonant run in tandem with Hall. The duo ended the set with the Sonny Rollins standard, "St. Thomas," more funky than calypso, with Keezer adding some Monkish accents before reeling off a dizzying, harmonically dense improvisation.

Throughout the set, Hall's penchant for matching wits with bassists (see his recordings with Ron Carter) was reflected in the arrangements, where Keezer often filled the bassist's role with his left hand vamps or traded off bass and treble with Hall. And, his magnificent duets with Bill Evans notwithstanding, Hall seems less challenged to open up in the company of a pianist. In an interview for String Jazz (January, 1996), Hall noted, "I like a piano-less trio actually, because that gives me a lot more leeway with chords and stuff. I play more of the guitar that way. If I'm working with piano, a lot of the time I just stand by and grin!" Not exactly standing by at the Vanguard, Hall nevertheless was grinning throughout the set, perhaps in recognition of the monster talent on the piano bench, and perhaps in recognition of the many bright moments the two shared this evening.

Choices. I mentioned earlier that there were some tough choices to make: I opted for the small clubs rather than the gala opening events uptown at the new home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. I did not make it to Dave Holland's sets at Birdland, but I had seen his quintet at the Dakota in Minneapolis earlier in the week; Eric Alexander's quartet was on the stand at Smoke but I did see him at the Dakota last month. I missed Jean-Michel Pilc at the Iridium but hope to catch this young French transplant somewhere soon; I left before I could catch Craig Taborn and Chris Potter at the 55 Bar in the Village. And Sweet Rhythm (formerly Sweet Basil) and Zinc were only a few blocks from my hotel.

But I had a great cannoli at a little Village café and sat in the Oyster Bar with a plate of mussels. I found the obscure but incredibly stocked Jazz Record Center in Chelsea. And in three nights, I got to three jazz clubs. I heard four of the world's top pianists, a legendary brass section, and combinations of artists that may never come together exactly this way again. I'll just stand by and grin.

Coming soon to the jazz standard: frank morgan quartet (november 4-7); lonnie smith trio (november 9-10); three guitars--coryell, assad, and abercrombie (November 11-14); Coleman Hawkins Celebration with Bennie Wallace (November 18-21); Jacky Terrason Trio with Ravi Coltrane (December 3-5). Tickets and information at www.jazzstandard.net

Coming to the Blue Note: Jeff "Tain" Watts, CD Release (November 2); Dave Liebman (November 8); Chick Corea Elektric Band (November 9-14); David Sanborn (November 16-21); Toots Thielmans and Kenny Werner (November 23-28); Dianne Reeves (November 30-December 5); McCoy Tyner Trio (December 7-12); Manhattan Transfer, December 16-19); Monty Alexander and Freddie Cole (December 21-26). Tickets and information at www.bluenotejazz.com

Coming to the Village Vanguard: Joe Lovano Nonet (November 9-14); Renee Rosnes Quartet (November 16-21); Lou Donaldson Quartet with Dr. Lonnie Smith (November 23-28); Bill Frisell Quintet (November 30-December 5 and December 7-12); Roy Hargrove with the Cedar Walton Trio (December 14-19); Cedar Walton Quartet (December 21-26); Dr. Michael White's Original Liberty Jazz Band of New Orleans (December 28-January 2). Reservations and information at www.villagevanguard.com

For more information about the above artists and other Manhattan clubs, see:

Fred Hersch (www.fredhersch.com)

Kenny Barron (http://members.tripod.com/~hardbop/barron.html)

Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Stars (http://dizzyalumni.com)

Clark Terry (http://www.riverwalk.org/profiles/terry.htm)

Jim Hall (http://guitar-masters.com/Masters/Profile-Hall.html)

Geoffrey Keezer (www.geoffreykeezer.com)

55 Bar (www.55bar.com)

Birdland (www.Birdlandjazz.com)

Iridium (www.iridiumjazzclub.com)

Sweet Rhythm (www.sweetrhythmny.com)

Zinc (www.zincbar.com)