*** Mark Elf

NEW YORK CATS

(Jen Bay Jazz)

This veteran guitarist has a long, impressive résumé, including several tours with the Heath Brothers. On this, his fourth album as a leader on his own Jen Bay label, he cuts back from his usual guest-star-studded quartets and sextets to a bare-bones trio. That gives him a chance to stretch out on super-uptempo flagwavers like Clifford Brown's "Brownie Speaks" and Cole Porter's "From This Moment On," aping an acknowledged hero, Tal Farlow, with driving, percussive, single-note lines.

Unlike Farlow's relaxed swing, though, Elf's solo style has a jittery, restless quality. He does a minimum of overdubbing to flesh out the textures (comping for himself on "Brownie Speaks" and Jobim's "No More Blues"). But his most impressive feats are accomplished without studio trickery -- the celesta-like harmonics on "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," the fancy picking that produces simultaneous melody, chords, and walking bass on "Lady Be Good" and his own lovely original lullaby, "Blues for Jenny." Bassist Jay Leonhart and drummer Dennis Mackrel are Elf's able foils.

-- Jon Garelick