In her landmark play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enough,” Ntozake Shange talks about “the craze that comes from too much choice.” Sometimes in art, having too many options can be overwhelming, and it’s better to be as specific as possible.

That’s the guiding philosophy of saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Hank Jones, who are performing as a duo this week at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. Both of these master musicians have more than enough technique to play anything they can think of: Mr. Jones has been a first-call professional since the 1940s and has kept up with every change that has occurred since, while Mr. Lovano is the archetype of the contemporary jazzman who can work in virtually any style.

Yet Messrs. Lovano and Jones have consciously narrowed their range of choices, with glittering results. As a duo, they work within the classic jazz mold of written theme and improvised variations, staying more or less within the musical vocabulary of the late swing era.

The playing of both men is driven by melody, and even when they go off on a harmonic tangent,the lines they improvise are essentially melodic.They don’t play anything that a casual listener would have a hard time following, and they eschew abstract, free-form playing. Nor do they engage in grandstanding or applause-grabbing cheap shots: Everything each of them plays is directly relevant to what the other is playing. In fact, the limited range of the twoman ensemble – which does not include bass or drums – somehow expands their possibilities rather than limiting them.

Messrs. Lovano and Jones have spent much of the last three years in each other’s company and have recorded two quartet albums together, “All for You” (2004) and “Joyous Encounter” (2005). They have just returned from a tour of Europe, and their Dizzy’s gig is being recorded by Blue Note Records for release as their duo album.

The saxophonist and the pianist have been connected to each other since 1985, when the young Mr. Lovano joined the orchestra co-founded by Mr. Jones’s brother, the late composer and trumpeter Thad Jones. Appropriately, most of the music played during Wednesday night’s opening set was written by the brothers Jones. The pianist recorded many of his brother’s tunes, including “Lady Luck” and “Little Rascal on a Rock,” on two outstanding tribute albums: “Upon Reflection” (1993) and “One More: Music of Thad Jones,” released last year by IPO Recordings.

At the same time, the music of the Lovano-Jones duet is highly grounded in the American songbook. The originals by both men, and those of Thad Jones, are dominated by singable melodies and have the feeling of popular standards. The set’s opener,”Lady Luck,” is a strong tune, at first reminiscent of “You Took Advantage of Me,” while “Little Rascal on a Rock” boasts an attractive line that Mr. Jones gingerly navigated with something like the post-stride approach I associate with Teddy Wilson.

Tadd Dameron’s “Soultrane,” for which the saxophonist switched to soprano, is best remembered from the composer’s album with John Coltrane, “Mating Call.” But Messrs. Jones and Lovano gave it the sultry, melancholy feeling of an Ellington lament. If there were a lyric to their rendition, it would be, “You’ve left me / but I’ll get along somehow.”

Mr. Jones played two “Oh!” songs as solo features: “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” the Richard Rodgers waltz, and “Oh! Look at Me Now.” The latter was composed by the late pianist Joe Bushkin, who, like Mr. Jones continued to perform into his 80s. The song served as a reminder of how extraordinary Mr. Jones is: At 87, his playing is better than ever. Precious few performing artists in any genre have achieved such a level of greatness at this point in their lives.

Mr. Jones started what appeared to be a third solo feature, “Alone Together,” but after the first chorus his partner joined in. Mr. Lovano likes to use the term “organic” to describe musicmakers he admires and the goals he sets for himself. Mr. Lovano has just as much chops as any of his contemporaries, but when he plays, we don’t think about his tools but about what he’s communicating to us. His playing is always more about soul and feeling and ideas, rather than drawing attention to the means by which they are transmitted.

The duo wound up the 75-minute set with two more standards: Victor Young’s “Stella by Starlight,” which Mr. Lovano stretched out by providing an original coda, and Thelonious Monk’s “Four in One,” which the saxophonist opened with a solo cadenza. Though both men are capable of extreme virtuosity, this was some of the simplest and most effective music that either has ever created.

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Diahann Carroll, who hasn’t played New York in several decades, will conclude a two-week run at Feinstein’s at the Regency this weekend, and her show is well worth catching before she skips town again. On Tuesday night, in addition to singing, she talked about her career, which includes Broadway shows, films, and several long-running TV series (she was the first black actress to have her own show). She never blew her own horn, however, and didn’t even mention that she was among the few singers to record with the Modern Jazz Quartet or to share a television concert with Frank Sinatra.

Ms. Carroll did acknowledge her collaboration with Sinatra by singing a sequence of songs associated with him. A highlight was “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” which she rendered with the sharp rhythmic accents and swinging phrasing that Sinatra brought to it.

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On Tuesday, I previewed a threenight festival of British Jazz dubbed Live From London, which was to have taken place this weekend. It now appears that the festival is not happening.

The festival’s presumptive producer, Harkit Records, has removed the link to the festival page from its Web site, and is not responding to phone or e-mail inquiries. An official from City Center, which was reported by All About Jazz to have been hosting the festival, said Harkit Records never confirmed its reservation there. And Clark Tracey, the son of the great British jazz pianist Stan Tracey, said several U.K. artists flew to New York, only to be left high and dry.They are contemplating legal action against Harkit Records.

I hope this doesn’t dissuade anybody from listening to British jazz greats like Mr.Tracey and the late Tubby Hayes.

Lovano & Jones until April 30 (Broadway at 60th Street, fifth floor, 212-258-9595). Carroll until April 29 (540 Park Avenue, 212-339-4095).