Artful jazz with a few twists

Bill Buchman

Sarasota-based Bill Buchman is an artful guy. He's a renowned painter and art teacher. The several places he teaches these days include the Venice FL Art Center. On Thursday, January 22, he set his brushes aside and wore a different hat - as a very fine jazz pianist. Buchman teamed up with bassist Don Mopsick and drummer Chuck Parr in the South County Jazz Club's  matinee performance series in the Art Center's main gallery.

Over two sets, Buchman, Mopsick and Parr explored a wide range of Great American Songbook, pop and jazz standards. Favorites: their takes on Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa," Paul Desmond's "Take Five," "Poinciana," the show tune that Ahmad Jamal singlehandedly turned into a jazz standard, and Oscar Peterson's "Hymn to Freedom." Buchman brings his own touch and musical sensibility to every tune. He seems a bebopper at heart, but his inventiveness crosses the stylistic gamut. Two unusual treats: his boogie-woogie treatments of Miles Davis's "All Blues" and the rousing "Sweet Georgia Brown."

The concert was recorded for a live CD that Buchman will release in the next month or so on his Art is Poetry label. (Note: he also has a blues band).

Bill Buchman, Don Mopsick, Chuck Parr