Exit Earshot Jazz

"Go see George Colligan," our friend e-mailed from DC. "He's one of the best pianists working today."

So we did—Colligan was at Tula's on Friday and Saturday nights, as the Earshot Jazz Festival neared its close—and he is. Although it is easy to hear earlier influences (Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner) and contemporary resemblances (Geoffrey Keezer), Colligan is original and inventive and his technique must be witnessed to be believed. A solo medley of "Body and Soul" and Jaco Pastorius's "Three Views of a Secret" covered a wide range of pianistic expression, not to mention jazz history. And when the trio launched into a fiery, emphatically non-bossa version of "The Girl from Ipanema," the girl never knew what hit her.

This was a trio with local musicians Jeff Johnson on bass and Matt Jorgensen on drums, and it's worth noting that Seattle cats can play with anyone. On a mix of Colligan originals, standards, and less-standard covers—Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me," Ennio Morricone's "Theme from Cinema Paradiso," the Beatles' "Come Together"—Johnson and Jorgensen matched Colligan's velocity and earned applause of their own. ("Have your drummer take a bow!" shouted a man in the corner after a particularly explosive drum solo. Jorgensen bowed.)

Earlier in the week, onstage at Cornish, bassist Drew Gress—one of the best bassists working today—praised the Earshot Jazz Festival: "It's a rare thing." That rare thing ended on Sunday, but Seattlest eagerly awaits next year's installment.