As Then and Now opens with Cole Porter’s 1929 classic, “What Is This Thing Called Love,” followed by another standard, “Red Top,” it’s clear that some fine, jazz-wise musicians are in the house. The tunes, however—as well as the piano, bass, drum solos format—feel somewhat predictable. Ears open on further listening when the Garden District Trio, a group led by drummer David W. Hansen that over its history has seen changing personnel, takes off on Hampton Hawes’ “Duff,” with pianist Jordan Baker’s inspired interpretation. It’s his. Bassist Richard Moten jumps in with a big fat, round, sound.

By the time the album hits one of its highlights, Mongo Santamaria’s passionate “Afro Blue,” led off by Hansen’s impressive drum solo followed by Baker’s piano mastery including a quick quote from John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” the meaning of the disc’s title, Then and Now, becomes more apparent. It reflects great eras of jazz—music that is timeless.

Latin rhythms play a central role here, as they long have in jazz music, with the inclusion of pianist Horace Silver’s “Cape Verdean Blues” and vocalist/composer Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Dindi.” Rhythmically Hansen has a taste for south of the border.

Blues and swing cap off an album that certainly spotlights the accomplished talents of Baker, a graduate of NOCCA and the University of New Orleans-Lafayette.

Musically, Then and Now becomes more than one might have anticipated. Just keep listening, go back, and listen again.