Adam Birnbaum, Cole Porter Fellow from 2004, returns to scene of triumph with 'Holiday Jazz'

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 Adam Birnbaum wisely varied a program suitably titled "Holiday Jazz" to avoid giving any impression he

Adam Birnbaum helped Juilliard launch jazz studies

and Hoosier musicians Jeremy Allen and Kenny Phelps would offer seasonal Muzak.

Heard in a second set Friday night at the Jazz Kitchen, the distinguished 2004 winner of the American Piano Awards, offering fresh jazz interpretations of some well-known favorites while also giving an example of his fascination with J.S. Bach preludes. There was also "Kat's Dance," an original ballad written in  honor of his wife.

Throughout, he exemplified the full spectrum of skills that earned him the Cole Porter Fellowship 21 years ago. His improvisational ideas favor the graceful side of jazz pianism, and a full house saturated in anticipation of the holiday season was ready to receive them enthusiastically. 

He is also imaginatively focused on melody, which served him well in a program including "What Child Is This?" (Greensleeves), "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "Winter Wonderland" (which could be suitably heard over the next three months, but never is).

Birnbaum now enjoys the stability of family life and a professional anchor in metropolitan New York as  jazz studies professor and department chairman at SUNY Purchase. "Winter Wonderland" opened the set attractively, as Birnbaum's soloing extended the harmonic structure of the piece. Bassist Allen suffused his solo with nice melodic turns that complemented the pianist's tuneful orientation. 

The pianist's run toward the top prize in 2004 began with a trio set at the Jazz Kitchen. To re-create the rapport he had with Phelps then, the trio launched into Cole Porter's "So in Love." The song offered an opportunity for pianist and drummer to build intensity in long exchanges. So did an unlikely number for showcasing Phelps' virtuosity: Bach's Prelude in C minor from "The Well-Tempered Clavier," an encyclopedic masterpiece illustrating that one keyboard tuning could accommodate music written in a host of keys. Birnbaum's recomposition of the original was enthralling.

The dreamy side of the holidays got breathing room in the next-to-last piece, Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here," though the song's lively potential was not overlooked. That paved the way for a race over the snow-covered roads of yore — Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride."  Phelps's recurring phrases using a nonmetallic shaker to stand in for sleigh bells was an inspired choice that kept drawing chuckles from the crowd. The delight evident in the audience response summed up how completely won over APA supporters tend to be whenever a past laureate returns to a place that several, like Birnbaum, think of as "my second home." 

 


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