Yeah, in Jamal's trios, there always this constant shifting of weight, of density. It's never the same trio from beginning to end. Sometimes the bass has it, sometimes the drums, sometimes the piano, sometimes the whole trio. With this trio in particular, you had two other voices who understood what was going on and were more than able & willing to make it happen. Check out how all that little trinkly shit that he does very effectively pulls the music away from "piano solo" and into Israel Crosby-land, a most groovy place to be.
I pretty much think you have to listen to any Jamal unit as an ensemble instead of a "piano trio", unless your concept of "piano trio" recognizes that it can be more than just a "piano-bass-drums" vehicle for soloists. For that matter, I also think that the concept of "ensemble" is becoming lost in jazz in general. I mean, who really gives a fuck about the 2nd tenor part to a Thad Jones chart, or a trombone part in the middle of of an Ellington sax section, or a minor 16th in a Gil Evans chart, even though those are among the crucial things that make that shit what it is? Everybody's just soloist this, soloist that, good groove this, good groove, that, energy this, energy that, pocket here, pocket there, everywhere a pocket pocket. Well, ok, that's all good, truly, but it's not all of the good!
Ensemble. Group. Unit. Call it what you want to, but any time more than one peoples play together, there are decisions being made about how to do it. And the shrewd ones think about what the possibilities are and what the effect of the possibilities will be in relatively "scientific" terms. Jamal was/is a shrewd one indeed!