Chestnut Hones His Engaging Style

Individuality always has been a vital quality in a jazz artist. And never more so than among the growing flock of jazz pianists, all struggling to carve out an individual stylistic niche.

Cyrus Chestnut is one of the more successful in doing so, and his performance at the Jazz Bakery on Tuesday, in the opening set of a six-night run, was the work of a player well on the path toward finding his own voice.

Part of the energy driving him down that path was provided by a subtle constellation of influences tracing to Art Tatum, Ahmad Jamal, Les McCann and McCoy Tyner, among others. But Chestnut himself provided the spark that drove the performance, his large physical presence, enthusiastic approach to the music and warmly communicative personality combining to make a presentation that was as entertaining as it was musically engaging.

Chestnut’s choice of material was also imaginative, avoiding an emphasis upon familiar standards--with the exception of a brightly rhythmic romp through “You and the Night and the Music”--opting to add a few originals, Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” (from Chestnut’s new “A Charlie Brown Christmas” album) and an offbeat rendering of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise.”

In almost every instance he found a highly personalized way to approach the music. Interacting in smoothly efficient fashion with bassist Kengo Nakamura and drummer Neal Smith, Chestnut underscored “Fur Elise” with a driving, funk-tinged groove. He found the lighthearted spirit in Guaraldi’s classic “Peanuts” theme, and played a solo, untitled spiritual-like number with a warm linkage between the song’s soaring melody and its sparse harmonies.

Nakamura, who seemed to have an almost intuitive understanding of Chestnut’s many sudden musical twists and turns, played in roots fashion on his own “Mr. Nutmeg.” And Smith managed to adapt immediately to the Bakery’s drum-challenged acoustics, while also demonstrating a rare aptitude for playing with brushes.

Perhaps most appealing of all, the Chestnut trio’s technical skills were thoroughly matched by their sheer pleasure in making music.

* The Cyrus Chestnut Trio at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. Tonight through Sunday at 8 and 9:30 p.m., $22 admission. (310) 271-9039.