Local Jazz Pianist Returns for CSO Concerts

A Wilmette native, with big jazz credentials will be returning to the concert-stage of his hometown this holiday season, in addition to several Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances.

Adam Kromelow began taking piano lessons while enrolled at Harper Elementary School, and it wasn't long before this rising star began to prove his mettle.

"My classical piano teacher [Patti Horn] was very encouraging," Kromelow told Patch. "I was listening to a lot of rock music and I would figure these songs out on piano and apply that knowledge to classical pieces, changing the groove or adding improvisations."

But his style would evolve in a big way in his junior high and high school years as he began taking jazz piano lessons and listening to the music of a particular rock band.

"My biggest musical influence was Genesis," he said. "Their album Selling England by the Pound was one of the albums that really got me interested in piano, composition and jazz—even though they are not really jazz musicians. Their work contains odd meters and jazz harmonies that are very adventurous for rock music."

As a sophomore at New Trier High School, Kromelow began taking jazz lessons from Gary Swerdlow.

"Adam had a great ability to combine the new ideas he was learning with his own ideas in order to create a personal style," Swerdlow said. "He was also able to combine an intellectual and intuitive approach: he studied and applied theory, but could also play very well by ear."

Once the jazz bug bit Kromelow, there was no going back. As a New Trier student, Kromelow, who participated in jazz and wind ensembles, was chosen as Illinois all-state jazz combo pianist. He was eventually recognized as an Illinois Music Educator's Association outstanding soloist and given the honor of "Outstanding Performance for a High School Jazz Pianist" by jazz staple, DownBeat magazine.

After spending his first 18 years on the North Shore, Kromelow was admitted to the Manhattan School of Music, where he has been honored with the school's President's Award and is one semester shy of attaining a bachelor of music in jazz piano performance.

The busy New York lifestyle is suiting the young pianist well, he said. He performs regularly at such venues as Iridium Jazz Club, is a session musician for high-profile jazz, as well as rock artists and gives private lessons.

When asked about teaching full time, Kromelow seemed reticent but acknowledged, "In the jazz world, even the top people teach. I definitely see teaching as a part of my future in music but I do want to focus primarily on performing."

The young phenom will have an excellent opportunity to perform, and for his hometown crowd, in the coming weeks.

From Dec. 17-23, Kromelow will be part of a contingent performing at the CSO's Symphony Center for their Welcome Yule! concerts. He will be performing music arranged by local composer Gary Fry during the eight-concert series.

If you can't catch the performances at Symphony Center, Kromelow will be performing with a quartet at the Skokie Theater on Dec. 29 and the Wilmette Public Library Auditorium on Dec. 30.

He will be playing piano for the group, Collective Language, which also includes percussionist Gregg Bendian, bassist Peter Brendler and Chicago native, Jon Irabagon on saxophone.

Collective Language will perform songs by legendary jazz composer and pianist, Thelonious Monk.

Bendian, a jazz legend in his own right, was playing drums for a Genesis tribute band in New York when Kromelow introduced himself after the concert.

"We had so many similar ideas," recalled Kromelow, citing their mutual appreciation of Genesis and Monk. "He was really giving me composition lessons at first and then he started calling on me to play with some of his groups."

After the holidays, Kromelow will return to Manhattan to finish his degree under the tutelage of Jason Moran.

"Jason is such an inspiration to me; he is a winner of a 2010 MacArthur Fellowship and a jazz icon," Kromelow said. "His playing and concepts behind improvising are the reason I've been able to improve. I felt stuck in my music and he definitely opened me up. He has been absolutely pivotal in my development."

Kromelow hopes to be back in the Chicago area next summer as his own group, the Adam Kromelow Trio, will be promoting their upcoming CD release. The album is being produced by Grammy-winning pianist Arturo O'Farrill.

"This project is not really a 'jazz' group; there is a lot of rock and classical influence," Kromelow said. "If you have to put a genre on it, I would call it 'original new music'. I believe it is much more accessible than jazz."

Tickets to see Kromelow perform for Welcome Yule! can be purchased on the CSO website. Collective Language's Dec. 30 performance at 7 p.m. at the is free and open to the public.