When it comes to conveying optimism and joy, Cyrus Chestnut has few rivals among pianists of the 40-something generation.
But if in previous outings his music has seemed extremely tradition-bound, he now appears to be venturing into more creative territory.
Granted, Chestnut, who opened a weeklong engagement Tuesday night at the Jazz Showcase, still cheerfully works in a mainstream swing language. So listeners who prize the outer reaches of experimentation will not find any of it here.
Yet within his own, decidedly straightforward perspective on jazz, Chestnut showed a greater spirit of adventure than this listener had ever heard from him. The combination of Chestnut’s imaginative arrangements with his robust performance style yielded a thoroughly attractive trio set.
Consider Chestnut’s surprising approach to one of John Coltrane’s most famous anthems, “Giant Steps,” which Chestnut re-envisioned as a waltz (of all things). By emphasizing lush chords, delicate colors and considerable pictorial detail, Chestnut effectively transformed Coltrane’s hard-driving masterpiece into a disarmingly introspective jazz nocturne. This wasn’t “Giant Steps” for purists, of course, but it attested to both the ingenuity of the pianist and the durability of the composition.
In a new work, “The Brown Soldier,” Chestnut pushed into still more inventive terrain, offering a series of musical episodes built on a constantly shifting array of colors, textures and moods. Though Chestnut’s chordal vocabulary proved predictable, the New Orleans street rhythms that drove the tune, as well as Chestnut’s all-over-the-keyboard virtuosity, made up for it.
One might not have expected much of a set that began with the ancient “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” but Chestnut often ventured into less well-worn fare. In a work that unapologetically applied classical-piano techniques to a jazz setting, for instance, Chestnut opened with an extended solo evoking the piano suites of Robert Schumann. Before long, Chestnut was recalling the spare lyric beauty of keyboard miniatures by Erik Satie. Any jazz pianist willing to span 19th and 20th Century classical methods in an improvised jazz setting may be more intrepid than listeners have realized.
To its credit, Chestnut’s band is a trio in the fullest sense of the term, its members listening keenly to each other and responding accordingly. The warmth of Michael Hawkins’ work on bass (especially in bowed passages) and Neal Smith’s remarkably subtle and evocative brushwork on drums significantly enhanced the timbral beauty of Chestnut’s pianism. Positioned unusually close to one another on stage, these players produced nearly seamless ensemble work.
———-
The Cyrus Chestnut Trio plays through Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave; $20-$25; 312-670-2473.
