David Kikoski Trio

We went with our friends Michael, Pam and Molly to hear the jazz pianist David Kikoski in a trio performance at Small's jazz club in the West Village.   Kikoski, who often plays with the Mingus Big Band, is a classical musician's type of jazz pianist.  He has a maniacal, madcap style, and loves to play with extreme contrasts in rhythm and harmony and texture.  In the middle of a solo, he will suddenly launch into a completely different meter, or a completely different key, and yet somehow it all hangs together (mostly).  Some of his original tunes were fascinating; Michael said he thought one was in a 19 meter (I can't count that high).  He had us on the edge of our seats, and sometimes laughing out loud at the audaciousness of his ideas.   He reminded me a bit of Jacky Byard (who also played with Mingus) in his stylistic facility.    I had never heard him before, and it made me wonder how many unsung brilliant pianists there are out there that I don't know.
I should also mention that the bass player, Ed Howard, and the drummer, Adam Cruz, were equally inventive and interesting.  A good thing, since I was sitting about 6 feet from the drummer; he was a constantly interesting to hear, always inventive and subtle, and never heavy-handed.  There are not many drummers I would want to sit 6 feet away from.