Assaf Kehati Trio featuring Billy Hart Twins Jazz Washington, D.C. June 5, 2010 In recent years, the guitar trio--with bass and drums--has reached mythic status. Once an obscure instrumentation, the setting has been elevated to new heights by young guitarists seeking the kind of interplay for which the piano trio is so lauded--the very interplay so written about that it has become a clichA(C) to even mention. After all, who has not read some nameless jazz writer go on ad nauseam about the "serene conversations" of the Bill Evans trio? That said, the format does afford real opportunities for musical dialogue perhaps unrealized by guitarists of the 1950s and '60s, with the exception of a few who were brave enough to play in trio such as Jim Hall, Grant Green, and Barney Kessel. These exchanges arise not just from the small size of the trio, but more importantly from its lack of narrowly defined roles. In a way, the modern trio possesses neither accompanist nor leader, leaving open the possibility for success or failure, for agreement or disagreement. Functions change often, and with enough fluidity that they might never have existed at all...