JAZZ REVIEW : Talk Upstages Coleman’s Piano Skills

Cecilia Coleman is a young pianist whose skills both as improviser and composer have been admired locally for several years. These talents, however, were hard to detect under the conditions Friday at the Overland Cafe.

As so often befalls musicians working in clubs, Coleman had to deal with a crowd that had come to listen not to her but to each other. Trying to rise above the conversational chatter, she opened with a Latinized treatment of “Nature Boy,” then made the transition into bop with a spirited “Hallucinations” that owed much to the original version by the composer, Bud Powell.

Because Coleman has been developing as a composer, it was frustrating to try to isolate the sound of her attractive “Words of Wisdom,” the title tune of her album, with its stark incisive chordal statements. By the time she got to “Young and Foolish” the crowd had thinned, the audibility level improved, and her wistful balladry hit home.

Valuable at all times was the support of her outstanding bassist, Eric Bon Essen, and the drummer Kendall Kay, both of whom work with her regularly.

Coleman entered her set with Nat Adderley’s “The Old Country.” Ironically, it drew applause from three tables, most of whose occupants had been talking. Maybe she will have better luck Tuesday, when she plays at Jax in Glendale.