The Dave Len Scott Quartet played a free jazz concert at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in West Sedona on Saturday, April 13, performing selections from their album “Blessed Mix.”

Scott, who is music director at the church, candidly admitted that the quartet’s mini-tour of southern Arizona, including dates in Cottonwood and Phoenix, was motivated in part by his desire to reunite with his bandmates from San Francisco. However, on the afternoon of the concert, he was left to carry the tune himself at first thanks to a delayed flight that left his colleagues somewhere on the road between Sky Harbor International Airport and Sedona — but fortunately not on State Route 179, he assured the audience, to their relief.

In the meantime, Scott opened the show with a trio of piano solos, starting with William Bolcom’s “Graceful Ghost,” the composer’s tribute to his father. This was lively rather than ghostly for the most part, with some intermittent introspection — a speakeasy ghost. He followed it up with a more subdued piece that carried the feeling of watching afternoon summer sunshine sliding through a farmhouse kitchen, one in which his playing seemed more at home. Still awaiting his fellow musicians, he then asked for audience requests. One listener called for Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”

“I can’t sing it, but I can play it for you,” Scott declared, and dashed it off immediately with his eyes almost closed and a grin on his face, right as his bandmates arrived: Daniel Fabricant on bass, Scott Foster on guitar and Jeff Marrs on drums. While the rest of the quartet got set up, Scott talked about his experiences touring with Boz Scaggs, who had a tendency to be shy.

“If you wanted to get Boz talking, you talked about wine,” Scott said.

With everyone in place and tuned up, Scott launched into a trumpet solo in the aisle of the church that segued into “Every Time I Feel the Spirit,” leading the group with his body movements and the bell of his trumpet like an old-time bandleader. As the energy of the piece built, he switched over to the piano to throw in some accents to the playing of the guitar and bass before the whole thing swung back around to a reprise of the original theme. Afterward, Scott asked Fabricant how things were working out with his rented bass.

“We’re getting to know each other,” Fabricant quipped.

“Very exciting,” Scott said. “That’s what I love about jazz. There’s spontaneity to it.” He added that the format of jazz is inherently both spiritual and democratic.

That proved to be the setup for the quartet’s cover of Bob Marley’s “One Love,” which had a Caribbean flavor enhanced by the instrumental setting. The guitar provided steely points in contrast to the tinkling arpeggios of the piano, and there was also a cheeky bright part for the trumpet. “Love Thy Neighbor” offered the band a chance to go even farther back and enjoy John Coltrane’s chord progressions from the 1950s. Opening with some familiar phrasing, this number had prominent solo parts for guitar and bass, with Fabricant adding a little whimsical flair to his part.

The remainder of the performance featured three of Scott’s own compositions.

“The Calvary Walk” was his musical account of the band strolling along Fillmore Street in San Francisco. Musically, the piece was split into two distinct sections, the first echoing the walk itself, intensely rhythmic with trumpet and piano trills and a gleeful guitar. Then the mood changed, signaling the entrance into the sanctuary of Scott’s former church, and the bass line gained in prominence as the theme shifted to a pair of repeated three-note phrases that the listener could almost hear implying a chant of “praise the Lord” over and over.

“The Blessed” was Scott’s musical meditation on Matthew 5:3-4: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” The subdued opening measures were carried by the piano, joined by the bowed rather than plucked bass, with the slightest hiss of cymbals in the background. Although the work’s pace later picked up, it remained soft and accommodating, distinctly pastoral.

For “Contemplate,” the band’s final selection, Scott broke out the flugelhorn instead of his standard trumpet. The A section was built around an insistent repeated piano chord driving the listener onward like a metronome — contemplation leading to action — and the mellowness of the guitar solo gave way to a wild performance by Marrs on the drums before the earlier urgency gradually dissipated in a slow piano.

Scott is tentatively planning to follow up the quartet’s appearance with a classical trumpet concert this summer; details will be available at a later date.