Playing for Keeps — Britt Woodman, Joe Wilder, John LaPorta — three seasoned elder statesmen who long ago established stellar reputations as important jazz artists, but who (then in the twilight of their careers) were hard to find.

All three had remarkable careers.

73-year-old trombonist Woodman with Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington and then his boyhood friend Charles Mingus solidified his reputation as the droll, eye-twinkling, sardonically witty master of the ‘plunger/growl.’

Trumpeter Joe Wilder, 71, the youngster of the group, spent his early years in some of the same bands as Woodman, then moved on to prominence with Count Basie, as well as studio and pit work in which he displayed extraordinary facility in both the classical and jazz realms.  Warm, rich tone, love for the trumpet’s low register, melodic invention and urbane worldliness are hallmarks of the Wilder style, fluency is his calling card.

John LaPorta, 73, first drew national attention five decades ago, going on to play with Woody Herman, Charles Mingus and Lennie Tristano, then teaching at the Manhattan School of Music. His playing maintains a very contemporary quality (witness his 1987 work with Orange Then Blue on Music for Jazz Orchestra) and is loaded with vitality and surprise.

The never-less-than-amazing Jack Wilkins on guitar and the sinewy, subtitle push of Ed and George Schuller on bass and drums provide the harmonic and rhythmic underpinnings of this session.