One of five 2023 Grammy nominees for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Peter Erskine’s Live in Italy captures the veteran drummer in the town of Camogli, with trio partners Alan Pasqua (piano) and Darek Oles (bass). The sound is immaculate, the audience engaged, the trio chemistry inventive and alive. Versatility is Erskine’s calling card—his stints with Weather Report and Steps Ahead revealed a great facility in electric and acoustic settings and everything in between. But the piano trio idiom holds a special place for him, and his long-standing relationship with Pasqua recalls his stellar ’90s output on ECM with the late UK piano master John Taylor. One key difference is this later trio’s affinity for standards, evident in Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma” and Django Reinhardt’s “Nuages”. Pasqua’s writing is also notable: “Agrodolce”, “New Hope”, “Old School Blues”, “Dear Chick” and “Turnaround” are Pasqua originals with their own harmonic twists and emotional character. Oles’ contributions are the moody waltz “Snowglobe” and the pleasingly retro hard-bopper “The Honeymoon”. Both of Erskine’s tunes, the dark ballad “Three-Quarter Molly” and the open-form bonus track “Bulgaria”, create space for drums to step out and be featured.