Ahmad Jamal brought merely a trio to the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild on Thursday night.

It might have well been an orchestra, especially with the arrangements. If anyone was expecting mindless lounge music, they were in the wrong place.

Jamal, who grew up in Homewood and brought along his longtime sidekicks, bassist James Cammack and drummer Idris Muhammad, opened the 75-minute show with -- appropriately -- "Pittsburgh," which was full of heavy block chords that perhaps symbolized the heavy industry of his youth. That appeared to be a theme of the evening, Jamal & Co. adding dark, impressionistic shadings to much of the repertoire. I didn't even recognize "Like Someone in Love."

"The Devil's in My Den" moved from fast swing to half-time funk and back again. Muhammad used mallets during his solo, and Cammack's bass was pretty clean, considering that upright acoustic bass never seems to cut through much at the Guild.

I favored the ballads -- the tender "It's Magic," the achy "Papillon," both from the upcoming album, also called "It's Magic"; and "After Fajr," on which Muhammad laid out.

You know the band just had to play "Poinciana." While it stayed true to the vibe of the recording (has it really been a half-century?), Jamal let the melody drop out at key times. That might have irritated some folks, but hey -- this is jazz and sometimes you need to change things up.

The biggest problem was that, at least from where I sat, Muhammad simply overpowered everyone else.