Guitarist Larry Scala leads the misnamed Rhythm Jesters, a trad jazz band that isn’t clowning around. They aren’t mocking or satirizing jazz in a jesterly fashion; instead, they approach the jazz songbook with a clear focus on the value of swinging. In that respect, they got the “rhythm” part right. Big Easy Swing moves beautifully, and its unassuming quality is part of its charm. The song choices aren’t the obvious ones made out of concern for audiences, and none of the principal voices—Scala, Rick Trolsen and Tom Fischer—reach for bravura statements. Instead, the album feels like a collection of songs that they like playing, and ones that allow them to speak meaningfully to each other and whoever else might be in the room.

The joys are in the textural shifts as Scala alternates between scraped, chorded solo passages such as the opening to “Moten Swing” and warm, single-string leads, and Trolsen’s solos dance melodically and toe the line of becoming big, brassy and theatrical. There are three vocal tracks with Julia LaShae, who sounds over-controlled here. She enunciates so precisely that it’s distracting, but even those numbers have their appeal as the solos reveal how differently the players approach them when they’re accompanying a vocalist on a song with a strong melody.

Ultimately, Big Easy Swing is about the group’s musical interests and values with minimal concern for listeners. I’m sure they want them, but I doubt they listen to Big Easy Swing and hear a compromised note, and there’s a lot to be said for that.