Enrico Rava has been a mainstay of the Italian avant-garde for almost 40 years. A lyrical trumpeter in the Miles Davis mode, he combines a spare, vibratoless attack with a full tone that’s especially effective on a mostly ballads album like Tati. But the revelation here is Rava’s frequent younger collaborator of the past decade, pianist Stefano Bollani. The first tune is almost too Miles-like — both in its associations and in the way Rava plays it, but when Bollani solos, he quickly goes “outside” the changes. He can set a song up with a spacy, tempo-less intro, as on Rava’s “Fantasm” or lay the groundwork for the Satie-like “Birdsong,” and his boppish runs on a more sprightly piece like Rava’s Ornette tribute “Cornettology” are a tonic. That agitated bebop in the album’s second half also saves Tati from torpor. And it doesn’t hurt that the great drummer Paul Motian is the third member of this chamber trio, highlighting the shifts from free time to loose waltz, as propulsive with his soft brush work as in short full-on solos. Rava even plays Puccini’s “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca — a jazz ballad if I ever heard one.

Enrico Rava–Stefano Bollani Duo | April 5 | Regattabar, Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge | 617.395.7757

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