Eldar at Jazz Alley December 3 2013

Virtuosity isn’t a term that should be thrown around lightly, but Eldar’s reputation lived up to prose surrounding his playing.  Fun night at Jazz Alley, which was looking very festive with icicle lights garlanding the balcony and ornaments behind the stage. He shared the stage with two musicians who were probably twice his age, Todd Straight on drums and Dave Gapteen on bass. They were like the elder (Eldar?) statesmen, backing him up.  Seemed like both were new to some of the tunes, which was cool, love to see players fresh on a piece of music, discovering where it can go on the spot in front of an audience, although Eldar did say he’d been playing with the drummer since he was eleven. 

Pretty diverse set, showing his range across genres, including some ragtime/stride playing, a Radiohead tune (“Morning Bell”), an Irving Berlin tune (“What’ll I Do”), a couple pieces in crazy meters, and closing with the opening track on his most recent record Breakthrough called “Point of View Redux.” The thing that’s striking about his playing is the classical influence. You can here it in his solos and phasing.  If yr a piano aficionado, definitely worth checking out his set tonight.