JAZZ REVIEW : Makowicz Crafts Melodies Full of Passionate Appeal

Much is made of jazz pianist Adam Makowicz’s classical studies at the Chopin School of Music in Warsaw. But before the Czech-born musician sat down to the piano at the Jazz Bakery on Tuesday, he credited another period in his life, three years of living homeless, for making a deep, emotional influence on his playing.

Fittingly, there was little direct reference to Chopin or any other classical composer during Makowicz’s one-night only, solo appearance. But there was plenty of passionate appeal. Not until well into the second set, when Makowicz used Chopin’s “Prelude in D Minor, no. 15” (“Raindrop”) as a vehicle for improvising, did any genre mixing between jazz and the classics become apparent. And even that melancholy piece, painted with a host of colors and intensities, little resembled its original self.

The most visible composers heard during Makowicz’s performance were Richard Rogers, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and other lofty brethren of the Great American Songbook. As he did with the Chopin Prelude, Makowicz used their compositions as the framework for his wide-ranging, lyrically attentive improvisations.

The pianist crafted tunes such as “My Romance,” “Get Out of Town” and “Begin the Beguine” with a variety of shifting moods and tempos. Stride rhythms served as the guiding touchstones of this attack, popping in out of both ballad and swing numbers.

Makowicz’s classical training, applied to the improvisational tradition, was apparent in a surfeit of technique as he created a seamless flow between the various rhythms and feelings. His strong left hand played a role equal to the right as he ran up and down the keyboard. He refrained from quoting other tunes within the songs until the final number, when he dropped lines from “God Bless America” into the climax of “Just One of Those Things.”

At times, this ever-changing kaleidoscope of rhythm and emotions seemed to lose sight of their host, giving tunes as diverse as “Ol’ Man River” and “Somebody Loves Me” a similar feel. But then, Makowicz would change the pace with a more reserved attack, as he did on “Sophisticated Lady” or with a playful reading of one of his own quirky tunes.

The performance was recorded live for future release on the Yamaha Disklavier, a digital device that, when played back, triggers the keyboard in the same way as a player piano. Eerily, as the audience left at the end of his performance, Makowicz was again heard to play “Ol’ Man River,” but this time with no one at the piano.