The chilled-out hip-hop group combines old-school flow with older-school jazz beats during their first show of 2014. What do you get when you blend the musical chops of jazz session players with the lyrical astuteness of hip-hop’s brainiest practitioners? If you’re doing this math in Chicago, the answer will likely come out to be the J. Davis Trio. Since forming in 1999 with vocalist Julio Davis, bassist Dave Smith and drummer Tone Aimone, the group has become the Windy City’s standard bearer for the brand of groove-inflected hip-hop championed by acts like Digable Planets and A Tribe Called Quest. If you think that’s hyperbolic name-dropping, give “The Answer” a listen. The first track off 2011’s excellent Vintage proves that Davis’s old-school flow wouldn’t sound out of place on the best Jurassic 5 tracks. The group’s been quiet on the studio front since then, but they’re still making music; on Friday, March 21, they’ll hit the Double Door for an inaugural 2014 gig guaranteed to be as cool as the early spring breeze. The J. Davis Trio plays the Double Door on Friday, March 21, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here. Photo courtesy of the artist.