APA Premiere Series: Paul Cornish unveils a spectrum of influences and touch at the piano

Aspects of Paul Cornish with the Premiere Series trio

Already the variety of competition finalists is consciousness-expanding: From the abstract-expressionist energy of Esteban Castro last month, followers of the American Pianists Association have been transported into the filigree and pastels of Paul Cornish, leavened with an earthy force in evocations of his jazz heroines: Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) and Geri Allen (1957-2017). 

The occasions have marked the start of the Premiere Series of monthly appearances by the 2023 finalsts for the  Cole Porter Fellowship of the American Pianists Awards.

Attending the second set at the Jazz Kitchen Saturday night, I reveled in the adaptability of the format's accompanists, bassist Nick Tucker and drummer Kenny Phelps. They partnered with apparent ease to both of the first two finalists, as they are likely to do with the series' remaining three: Thomas Linger (Dec. 3), Caelan Cardello (Jan. 28), and Isaiah J. Thompson (Feb. 25). 

There's astonishing variety in Cornish's piano style. At times he superficially sounded like two different pianists Saturday night. He is often comfortable with dissonance, but it's rarely of the jarring kind. Harmonically, he's a free spirit, though he never seems to lose his respect for structure, if this hour or so of his playing is indicative.

After starting with his interpretation of a piece by fellow free spirit Geri Allen, he and the trio settled into Duke Ellington's "Warm Valley," one of the more enchanting melodies to come from Duke's pen.  Bass and drums sympathetically supported Cornish's tender tone, and the relaxed reading of this evergreen ended with a clever coda based on "Lush Life."

Cornish told the crowd he was reluctant to include an original piece in his set: Is it important I do this? he asked APA senior artistic advisor Joel Harrison, who replied significantly: "Your whole life depends upon it." So the young pianist, imbibing such wisdom, offered a musical reflection upon the unaccustomed hour of 5 a.m., which looks different, Cornish pointed out, according to whether you stayed up that late or are getting up that early. 

Before turning again to his inspirations, Mary Lou Williams and Geri Allen, Cornish offered a tribute to his influential teacher in his hometown of Houston, with the only jazz piece the teacher knew: Dave Brubeck's "Strange Meadowlark." But as the set wound down, the most notable indications of the fired-up side of Cornish was the hard-digging Williams piece, "Dirge Blues," with lots of strong left hand grinding out the blues pattern in the bass. 

In "Queen Geri," Cornish's salute to Allen, his solo made a fetish of rat-a-tat repeated notes, boldly accented. It showed that bringing forth some flamboyance would not seem out-of-place when so smoothly folded into the pianist's generally soft-spoken manner. Cornish is evidently a player who has no hesitation in ranging across a wide spectrum of sonority and expression and making it all come across as uniquely his own. This makes his progress toward the hoped-for big prize in April all the more worth anticipating.

[Photos from APA livestream]