MANILA, Philippines—The show’s title, “Jazzin’ Manila,” seemed driven more by a marketing objective than a spot-on depiction of what it delivered.

The main players —guitarist Scott Henderson, bassist Jeff Berlin and drummer Dennis Chambers, all jazz fusion heavyweights—were dismissed by cynics as being decades late in coming. And for what was billed as a jazz gig, the rather ironic opening act was folk-pop singer-songwriter Bayang Barrios.

Atypical casting

Nonetheless, the show held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza recently was such a joy, especially for those whose musical vocabulary is richer than that of local FM radio. Even the atypical casting of Barrios (who had her own instrumental trio via hubby Mike Villegas on lead guitar, his brother Angelo on bass, and Budeths Casinto on percussion) was such a pleasure. The sound mix of her four-song set was as clear and crisp as the headliners. The lively, all-acoustic rendition of her mainly original tunes—highlighted by “Alon”—was a more exquisite appetizer than, say, a lounge crooner’s all-covers act.

Hanging loose

The Henderson-Berlin-Chambers trio jammed like dudes hanging loose, chilling out together while dishing out their stuff. Berlin went further by wisecracking between tunes, declaring, “We’re superstars in Manila!”—to describe the attentiveness of the promoters. Henderson loosened up with swigs of Jack Daniel’s onstage and was quite a joker, too. “A man’s most frightening guitar chord is C minor 7 flat 5,” he remarked, proceeding to play the familiar strains of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.”

But the music that really mattered came in generous doses—each of the trio’s 12 numbers averaging eight minutes in length. Henderson’s blues riffing, Berlin’s progressive jazz leanings and Chambers’ funk grooves, along with treks toward bebop and rock, resulted in such richness, a three-dimensional quality to the sound they crafted. (Even pop came to the fore as Berlin gave a lilting reading of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven.”)

Henderson would often chew up the scenery with his hearty picking of the guitar strings, wringing every last bit of note with glee. He is such a wiz, producing spacey effects not often heard from the guitar, and thus threatening to render the keyboards obsolete.

Berlin was no less nimble, if less showy, with his fretted bass, his fingers often frolicking away even as he served as a reliable anchor.

Chambers, who left the talking to his co-players, was the hefty backdrop, providing steady beats and a few jaw-dropping drum solos harnessed in part by his years with Parliament-Funkadelic.

As a whole, whether it was in their hoppity hop rendition of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” or their vibrant take on Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints,” the three men alternated between sticking to a song’s template and improvising their hearts out, at times letting one another hog our ears’ attention with delight.