DVD: Bill Mays

Bill Mays Trio Live At WVIA (Bill Mays Music). In their years as one of the few firmly established working trios in the upper ranks of jazz, pianist Mays, bassist Martin Wind and drummer Matt Wilson have developed uncanny empathy. Here, Mays largely concentrates on his compositions. He makes an exception with an adventurous version of "Darn That Dream." From time to time, he goes outside by going inside the piano, using the strings as a harp. Wilson's ingenuity with rhythm and unusual percussion instruments and Wind's virtuosity, particularly with the bow, are on full display. Video and sound quality are first rate in this program played for an audience in a Pennsylvania television studio. This is an instance of a musician guiding his own business interests by issuing a DVD without middlemen.