Aaron Parks Trio, Kings Place

Sublimely lyrical young pianist Aaron Parks is seldom seen this side of the pond but 2015 brings two opportunities to catch him. On 13 November he’ll be appearing with James Farm, a quartet featuring sax luminary Joshua Redman, drummer Eric Harland and bassist Matt Penman, as part of the 2015 EFG London Jazz Festival.
Before that we have this trio performance to look forward to when the young New Yorker will be joined by bassist Ben Street and veteran drummer Billy Hart, known for his work with jazz legends Wes Montgomery, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter and Miles Davis.
Parks, now 31, is something of prodigy. He won a place at the Manhattan School of Music when he was just 16. While there he was mentored by piano great Kenny Barron, another master of jazz lyricism, and by 18 he was touring and recording with top flight trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
His 2008 release, Invisible Cinema, with its ethereal, dreamlike passages and lissom melodies, was met with widespread acclaim and marked him out as a performer of great subtlety. 2013’s Arborescence, a solo album comprising largely improvised pieces that betray the influence of Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock along with Béla Bartók's reworkings of Hungarian Folk songs, was stronger still and more ambitious in its scope.
This is the first Aaron Parks Trio tour to hit the UK and, with Parks at the height of his powers, their Kings Place appearance looks set to be unmissable.