Honor Thy Fathers

The pianist Laurence Hobgood, celebrated for decades as one of the world’s finest accompanist of singers, currently is stepping out into the light, leading his own trio. Of superstars. On drums, Kendrick Scott. On bass, John Pattitucci. Their album, “Honor Thy Fathers,” dedicated to the musical titans who inspired Hobgood’s virtuosity, contains several cover songs, including newly imagined arrangements of Stevie Wonder and Nat Cole. The majority of tracks on this sublime recording, though, consists of Hobgood’s revelatory originals. He writes jazz tunes that are memorable, hummable, and likable, and the band responds with something like rhapsodic elegance. This is one to listen to repeatedly.