Trio gets back to the Rite stuff

It’s been nearly a decade since violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, guitarist Al DiMeola and bassist Stanley Clarke last performed together in the trio they call Rite of Strings. Although an album resulted from that encounter, the trio did not reunite for further musical adventures until earlier this year.

What was described as their “acoustic tour” arrived at Royce Hall on Saturday with a program relying almost completely upon material from the sole Rite of Strings album, released in 1995 -- “Indigo” by DiMeola, “Song to John” by Clarke, “Renaissance” and “Memory Canyon” by Ponty -- as well as Clarke’s funk-driven “School Days.”

Playing familiar music for a few months can produce efficient results, and the selections flowed with a combination of smoothly integrated ensemble passages embracing stretched-out solo sections. Typically, each tended to reflect the orientation of the composers: “Indigo” was laced with the Spanish music references essential to DiMeola’s style; “Song to John” and “School Days” revealed Clarke’s broad stylistic preferences; and “Renaissance” and “Memory Canyon” displayed Ponty’s intimate connection with European classical music.

Beyond those selections, however, at least half the set was dedicated to individual solo presentations by each of the trio members. And it was here that the evening’s musical qualities became somewhat threadbare. There’s no denying the extraordinary virtuosity of these artists. But too often what they played substituted crowd-pleasing displays of fast-fingered repetitiousness for the inventive musicality that each player is capable of offering. Well aware that the most rudimentary scale runs, if repeated often enough, can generate whoops of approval, they repeatedly offered up such passages for approval -- and got it.

In addition, to describe what Rite of Strings presented as “acoustic” is to be trapped in a semantic thicket. Each instrument was individually amplified to rock music levels, allowing Clarke’s contrabass and Ponty’s violin to deliver sounds well beyond the capability of unamplified instruments. And DiMeola employed various electronic tone-altering devices with his acoustic guitar, adding whistle tones and occasional wah-wah effects to his lines -- not exactly what one would describe as “acoustic music.”

The result might best be described as electrically enhanced, jazz-styled music packaged for a rock music audience. Which, it appeared, was precisely what this particular audience wanted to hear. But only in fits and starts did the program have anything to do with the unquestioned jazz chops of these fine players.