Stirring creativity in Carmichael’s stride piano

Judy Carmichael may not have the look of a stereotypical stride piano player, but on Wednesday at the Cerritos Center’s Sierra Room Theatre, Carmichael wasted no time getting down to business with a rhythmically effervescent program of standards and jazz specials propelled by the bouncing left-hand patterns characteristic of the stride style.

Her programming reached from “Ain’t She Sweet” and “Up a Lazy River” to “Lulu’s Back in Town” and “I Found a New Baby.” Keeping in close touch with the melodies, ornamenting them with a stream of right-hand curlicues and briskly syncopated chording, Carmichael used her considerable virtuosity in a continuous effort to find the life and spirit within each selection.

Her efforts to preserve and display the rich creativity of stride piano were fundamentally similar to the musical action that takes place when a classical pianist plays a Mozart concerto. The principal distinction lies in the fact that the European music was written, while the stride style of American jazz is largely improvised.

And what Carmichael’s stirring performance said, in essence, was that it’s time to get past the prejudices that allocate greater significance to the former while minimizing the importance of the latter.