Nikki Yeoh is an accomplished jazz pianist and composer whose works range up in size to orchestral commissions.
Her task in this concert was to corral this energy into a lunchtime hour.
A bubbly and talkative performer, Yeoh's expanded original compositions were not, on this occasion, the meditative landscape style of, for example, Keith Jarrett.
The virtuosic, restless flurries owed more to freer players.
A regular element in her playing is the interjection of strong, funky, left-hand figures supporting brilliant melodic invention, reminiscent of Michel Petrucciani's style.
Several pieces bore quirky titles. Dance Of The Two Small Bears was a high point, featuring a substantial diversion into the Charlie Parker blues Billie's Bounce.
The Steinway grand invited some cursory "prepared" piano antics, using keys and a glossy magazine to damp the strings.
Yeoh's finale encouraged creditable two-part harmony singing from the audience, doubtless whetting their appetite for her full band, Infinitum.
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