Composer’s Ear Guides Akiyoshi’s Piano Notes

Toshiko Akiyoshi has had unquestioned jazz credentials almost since she arrived in this country from Japan in the ‘50s. A fine pianist, she was initially encouraged by Oscar Peterson, and worked with artists ranging from saxophonist Charlie Mariano (who became her first husband) to Charles Mingus.

For the past few decades, however, her skills as a composer and arranger have tended to dominate, most notably via the impressive big bands she has led since 1972. So the three-day booking she began at the Jazz Bakery on Friday in the company of bassist Phillipe Aerts, drummer Eddie Marshall and alto saxophonist Gary Foster offered a rare opportunity to hear her perform in a setting that prominently displayed her piano playing.

At Friday’s late set, Akiyoshi opened her program with a few familiar numbers including “ ‘Round Midnight” and, more unexpectedly, “Nancy, With the Laughing Face.” The fast-fingered technique she has exhibited since her earliest playing was in full display, especially apparent in a series of rhapsodic arpeggios and melodic ornamentations.

But it was something less specific that was more compelling--the manner in which she approached every solo, every statement of melody from a compositional perspective. Nothing Akiyoshi played sounded random. Her opening chording in “ ‘Round Midnight,” for example, rich with dissonance, immediately captured the tune’s undercurrent of darkness. With “Nancy . . . ,” she quickly found unexpected appeal in the tune’s harmonies.

Always effective with saxophonists, Akiyoshi worked especially well with Foster, supporting his gorgeous sound in ballads and driving his fleet, up-tempo improvisations with crisp bursts of rhythmic riffing. Performing together, they produced jazz filled with spontaneous creativity.