JAZZ REVIEW : COLIANNI AT DONTE’S: A FESTIVAL OF CLICHES

John Colianni’s press package calls him “the world’s most exciting young jazz pianist” but judging by his opening set at Donte’s, where he began a two-night stand Tuesday, the 23-year-old has a ways to go before he can aspire to such an appellation.

True enough, Colianni has a prodigious technique, the kind that can shoot sparks across a room. But he seems to have no imagination to go along with it.

His five-tune set contained three blues, and while they varied a bit, on each he displayed the same stockpile of blues cliches we’ve heard zillions of times.

There were one-note ideas repeated over and over, flashy, funky licks and endlessly banged chords. But licks don’t make a groove, and ultimately Colianni’s performance was “jazzy,” but not jazz.

If nothing else, the art of jazz is a feeling, the telling of a story, and the only story Colianni told was that he doesn’t yet know how to play singular renditions that breathe life and speak to his audience, his cohorts and himself. (He was backed by bassist Chuck Berghofer and drummer Jimmie Smith, who made the best of a tough situation.)

Even “Folks Who Live on The Hill,” an enchanting Jerome Kern ballad, was devoid of emotion, as glossy, vapid lines were installed instead of heartfelt passages.

But Colianni is young and he has time to go back and really listen to some of the people he idolizes, like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson. They told stories, they played from the heart, and that’s what Colianni needs to learn how to do.