Every summer, Juilliard students get to hone their skills by performing in the relaxed environment of the large atrium in a downtown office building on Maiden Lane. On June 28 I had the pleasure of hearing Juilliard graduate Josh Richman offer a generous sampling of piano music in various jazz styles. He began his program with a piece that for me had something of a "background music" sound, Bluesette by Toots Thielemans. The program sort of culminated with the spiky sounds of Thelonius Monk (Blue Monk). Mr. Richman closed the program with his own arrangements of Ellington and Gershwin standards (Prelude to a Kiss and Someone to Watch Over Me). He also performed two of his own works.
The competing noise of the very live atrium was somewhat distracting at times and I felt that the pianist might have played out more and projected voicings more emphatically. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant way to enjoy lunch and hear some good takes on some familiar and some not-so-familiar music.
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