Bryan Eng Jazz Trio
Chelsea Table + Stage, NYC, August 6, 2026
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Photo by Kevin Aley
Pianist/singer Bryan Eng brought along his outstanding jazz partners Stephen Parisi on bass and Ron Affif on guitar to Chelsea Table + Stage for an evening of mostly American Songbook standards that highlighted his role models, including Nat King Cole, Chet Baker, and Frank Sinatra. Most of these songs were performed through a jazz filter that often took them to unexpected and occasionally inexplicable channels moving far away from what the composers wrote. In fact, the evening felt far more like a jam session to which the audience was casually invited than a cabaret show.
Several things contributed to this feeling. First was that Eng chose to have no set list. The selections were offered at random, with no particular emotional or musical build-up. He acknowledged that issue before he performed the penultimate number, “Everything Happens to Me” (Tom Adair/Matt Dennis). This was a very downbeat number to sing for that close to the show’s end, despite how movingly he rendered it. Second, the improv basis for the show led to some major dead spots as the musicians talked among themselves, debating what was to come next. Eng also had a habit of avoiding the audience, instead choosing to address his cohorts more than his fans who did pack the room. Also, he often delivered his lyrics away from the room; much of the above-mentioned Adair/Dennis number was sung to the piano.
What couldn’t be criticized was the high level of musicianship of the trio or their versatility. From the opening number “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” (Bobby Troup), which gave each of them a chance to show off their individual talents, to a very bittersweet “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (George & Ira Gershwin) and an intoxicating “Old Devil Moon” (Burton Lane/E.Y. Harburg), a full range of musical moods was on display. Billy Joel was acknowledged in with two selections: “Vienna” and “Just the Way You Are”; the care with which they were delivered reflected Eng’s admiration of the songwriter. An upbeat “Pennies from Heaven” (Arthur Johnson/Johnny Burke) brought the evening to a close with a satisfying interpretation.
