Noel Jewkes plays with such cool aplomb that you’ll not question that he’s a giant among his peers and thousands of jazz fans in the Northern California watershed who’ve followed his career.

He’s a titan of the tenor — can make the soprano sing — will adjust your attitude with his fleet and sweet alto. Dr. Legato, he’s been called, for the way his phrasing soothes and cures you. Plays keyboards, of course, bass, sings a bit too. writes delightful tunes.

Tonight, he’s asked pianist Grant Levin, bassist Charles Thomas and drummer Jaz Sawyer to provide the rhythmic and chordal birdcage that lends structure to his work. Top talents, well attuned to Noel’s conception of the music.

All three know to leave the door open, allowing Noel to fly freely on the musical slipstream that washes through San Francisco, tying it to the world and prompting the sound of surprise, the expression of pure pleasure, to escape the most guarded of lips.