(Rovang was involved, non-pianistically, in another segment, "Scarf Dance," in which Luke Miller and van Noort continually bound him in a red scarf, and Rovang ended up being relieved of his shirt and his jacket. I have never seen such a game pianist).
A versatile company of 10 performers, many of whom are called on to play multiple roles, and a game pianist (music director Matt Castle) swirling about an old-fashioned upright, eagerly enter this strange "once upon a time" universe in which everyone is chasing their own illusion of happiness.
On his new album, "Cyrus Plays Elvis," the ever-game pianist does a credible job of personalizing "Heartbreak Hotel" and the like.
Mr. Scofield's band features musicians who thrive at this game: the pianist and Hammond B-3 organist Larry Goldings, the bassist Scott Colley and the drummer Brian Blade.
Once the game was over, the pianist took his seat once again to rev up good old "Mustang Sally".
"Monk won handily," said Herb Snitzer, a former editor of Metronome, and a skilled ping-pong player in his own right who later challenged the mercurial pianist to a game.
Neither the bop-styled McPherson nor the agile, grainy-toned Hillyer soloed with Dolphy's originality, but they — as well as the ebullient, eclectic pianist Jaki Byard — were game for Mingus's leadership, and they shaped their solos to the musical masks that Workshop performance fostered.
The next Pop-Up program, "Playing Games With Kurtag," features the pianist Jacob Greenberg, the clarinetist Joshua Rubin and the violist John Pickford Richards playing excerpts from Gyorgy Kurtag's "Jatekok" (Games).
(Chinen) ★ Jason Moran and the Bandwagon / Geri Allen (Saturday) Elevated pianism provides the through-line in this double bill: Mr. Moran and Ms. Allen are among the leading jazz pianists in the game, both adept with gospel sonorities, postbop harmonic involution and deep blues feeling.
Pianist Ehud Asherie was a game foil for McLorin Salvant, though the evening would have benefited from the bolder ventures of her usual bandmate Aaron Diehl.
For Hot Creations head Jamie Jones, that moment has come in the form of the second release on his new Emerald City imprint, "One Time Game," which he recorded with classically-trained pianist and tech-house virtuoso Kate Simko.
