Jacky Terrasson’s Piano Whispers--Loud and Clear

Connecting with the audience in one way or another is essential for any artist to be even modestly successful. That’s particularly true for a musician.

Jacky Terrasson, the just-turned-30 French pianist who now lives in New York, is gradually becoming one of acoustic jazz’s most popular artists because he understands the necessity of reaching his listeners. This he does with mostly praiseworthy elements that are, seemingly, second nature.

Terrasson communicates immediately via his glorious touch. During his first set Saturday at the 240-seat Jazz Club at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Terrasson often applied delicate pressure to the keys to create the softest of sounds. There are few things as deliciously pleasurable as hearing a pianist make his instrument whisper, and Terrasson, working with bassist Tony Dumas and drummer Ali Jackson, did it again and again.

There was the tender beginning of his second number, Freddie Hubbard’s ambling “Little Sunflower,” and even though he played fast passages--this fellow can swing heartily--the notes remained hushed. Employing vital dynamics as he did throughout the evening, he brought the tune’s volume up as he soloed, sometimes playing brief, bluesy repeated phrases in his right hand (a favored device), sometimes mad swirls of melody. Then he reduced the sound toward the tune’s end so that each note took on a greater significance.

Terrasson used a similar soft-yet-speedy stance on the opening of Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas,” he played sotto voce to begin his “Reach”--which led into the haunting ballad “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”--and he offered “My Foolish Heart” as if it were a sighed lullaby.

The effect of all this quietude was to bring the listeners to Terrasson, drawing them snugly into his world. And his apparent fondness for what he was doing--he regularly smiled and exchanged pleased glances with his cohorts while he played--further cemented his bond with the 200-member audience. (He didn’t, however, embrace them in conversation. The handsome, olive-skinned Terrasson, dressed casually in a tails-out dark shirt and like-shaded pants, spoke to the audience only to introduce his bandmates.)

Terrasson was also appealing in his song selection. He balanced such jazz classics as Miles Davis’ “Milestones” and Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk” with standards such as Jerome Kern’s “Smoke” and Henry Mancini’s “Days of Wine and Roses.” Many were given unusual treatments, most of which worked well.

He opened his show with “Roses” at a very brisk pace, which gave the band a nice opportunity to warm up. He played “Blue Monk” in half-notes at the start, so that only every other melody note was heard. The soundly constructed opus had no problem withstanding this approach.

On the downside, Terrasson insisted, as is his wont, on tucking “Smoke” into the middle of “Reach,” an energetic number built on a repeating figure from piano and bass. Despite this odd placement (the two songs just don’t go together), Terrasson played it magnificently, never letting the lovely melody drift completely out of earshot. He also discreetly dropped in two references to Monk--a few notes from the great man’s introduction to “ ‘Round Midnight” and a phrase from his “Pannonica”--that paid homage to one of his heroes.

Dumas, a longtime Los Angeles stalwart, both supported the pianist and soloed with aplomb. His fat, well-chosen notes were offered in small and large groups, some with plenty of space between, some packed together like a bunch of grapes. Jackson is a dandy drummer, and he worked with a crisp attack to produce a light yet hard-driving sound.

Terrasson, who has shown remarkable growth in the last year, has one significant drawback that needs to be addressed before he will take his artistry to the level of his popularity. His propensity for fast, repeated figures, the blues-based cliches that invaded every number, served to break any melodic flow the pianist may have established. He’d do well to limit these and let his imagination take him where it will.