Keys of time

Tulsa jazz pianist offers a concert that reflects through music history

Barron Ryan listens close to the jazz greats. He transcribes them by ear, then learns to play them himself. It takes him up to 40 hours to transcribe one song.

“Usually much longer to learn it,” Ryan said. “‘Snowy Morning Blues’ by James P. Johnson only took me about a month, but an Art Tatum tune could easily take six.”

Now, Ryan performs music few other pianists, if any, are playing. Last year, Ryan released his debut solo album, “Classical with Attitude,” which features classical pieces with jazz or ragtime influences, including works by George Gershwin and Nikolai Kapustin, among others. The album aimed to make classical music approachable, whether or not the listener was well versed in the genre.

For his next project, Ryan wanted to delve further into the world of jazz while retaining the educational aspect of “Classical with Attitude.” To that end, Ryan is offering a journey from the roots of jazz to the present in a concert he’s calling, tongue firmly in cheek, “A Brief History of Piano Jazz.” “First, I don’t pretend to be an expert on all jazz piano history,” he said, “and second, I’ll have to leave out some really good music. It’s only one concert, after all.”

Jazz has had a long journey, beginning in Congo Square in New Orleans where West African music fused with the music of European marching bands to create something the world had never heard, through all of its varying styles and mutations in the 20th century, to today, when musicians—like pianist Robert Glasper, who folds hip hop into his own version of jazz—continue to push jazz into new directions and new sounds.

“I’m a big fan of what modern-day pianists are doing with jazz,” said Ryan. “The spirit of playing jazz has always been one of adventure, so I think musicians should be experimenting with it in new ways. Whatever musicians do, I think it’s most important that we communicate to our audiences why what we’re doing matters. We spend countless hours working on our craft because it uplifts us, motivates us, and gives us joy, and we need to give our audiences the same experience,” Ryan said.

He’ll start from the roots of the genre—ragtime and the blues—and proceed through the merging of the two forms to create jazz, then onward through stride piano and bebop. He’ll end with present day, with his own improvising. Along the way, Ryan will speak about the history of piano jazz, and how its sound progressed and changed. He’ll feature some of his favorite pianists: Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and others.  

“My goals for this concert are the same as for any that I do,” Ryan said. “I want the audience to learn something, hear good music, and have fun—in that order. Because if they learn something about what they’re hearing, they’ll probably think it’s good. And if they think it’s good, they’re already having fun.”

Barron Ryan presents “A Brief History of Piano Jazz” Saturday, April 19, at Foolish Things Coffee Company—which Ryan called “an unusual yet very hip place to host a piano concert”—starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at foolishjazz.eventbrite.com for $30.