By Andrew Poretz***When the young performer, pianist Bryan Eng, appeared at the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s Cabaret Convention last fall, he showed promise as a future jazz star. Also an actor (he’s appeared on Broadway, in films, and on television.), Eng regularly performs jazz standards at Bemelman’s Bar at the Carlyle Hotel.
At an early Saturday set at Birdland Jazz, Eng revealed an entirely different side of himself as a singer-songwriter in the 
mold of modern pop composers such as Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Paul McCartney, book-ending his own tunes and lyrics between a pair of jazz standards. Eng accompanied himself on piano with the support of guitarist and collaborator David Rourke. In an interesting turn not usually associated with the jazz ethos, Eng set up his originals with narrative stories of his life, as in a cabaret style show (something decided at the last minute, he revealed).
The set opened with a shuffle-swing arrangement of “The Way You Look Tonight” (Jerome Kern,Dorothy Fields) in which he and Rourke traded solos. Eng has a beautifully smooth voice and an attunement to phrasing. Rather than delivering a set of jazz standards, however, he announced an EP project of original material the pair is working on, and unveiled some of these songs during the set. The sweet waltz, “Oh Home,” was structured in something of a Paul McCartney-esque style, especially in Eng’s use of line clichés. The song almost called out for harmony, but there was none. Eng briefly jumped back to jazz with a Charlie Parker number, “Au Privave,” a rousing 12-bar blues instrumental that featured Rourke’s guitar doubling Eng’s piano, with a brilliant rhythm call-and-response between the pair. There were several musical quotes, including the opening phrase of “It Might as Well Be Spring” (Richard Rodgers).
Eng’s moving story about his parents acknowledging their pride in him inspired “Proud of You, Son”—a song that would feel at home on a Paul Simon album, Eng and Rourke “turned off the jazz” here, with Rourke strumming only simple, straight chords with a pick, aside from the occasional harmonic. Eng’s emotion in both telling and singing the song was palpable, and made for a warm audience connection. In the Billy Joel-inspired “Sleep Song,” a lullaby written for Eng’s girlfriend to help her sleep, one could discern Joel chord structure that might have been lifted from songs such as “She’s Always a Woman.” For the first time in the set, Rourke sang harmony. His sweet, light tenor added greatly to the overall sound, giving the pair a “Simon and Garfunkel” feel, although Rourke’s airy voice, while lovely, is not quite on a par with Garfunkel’s angelic tone.
“As Far as it Goes” was inspired by a wise, Buddha-like Uber driver: “Did you remember your keys? Your wallet? Your riches?” Rourke doubled Eng vocally on their choruses, which had hints of “Bye Bye Blackbird” (Ray Henderson), adding harmonies and Beatles-like “oohs” on the final chords. Eng was open and vulnerable discussing a recent 
breakup with his long-time girlfriend (they’re still friends) and the death of his beloved grandmother at 100. His musings over the breakup led to the poignant “I’ll Find a Way,” with lines including “I’ll find a way to tell you I love you, even though I know that you don’t feel that way.”
A poem he wrote about his grandmother eventually became a beautiful song about the blessings of learning about his life. Though it’s “not yet titled,” a repeated hook of “I Know I’m Still Learning Every Day” lends itself to a title. The duo closed with “I’ve Got the World On a String” (Harold Arlen, Ted Kohler) with an arrangement reminiscent of a John Pizzarelli chart. Gifted instrumentalists, Eng and Rourke presented an excellent, satisfying set, with the former showing great promise as a songwriter, especially as he distills his influences and finds his own writing voice. While Eng has appeared with full trios and bands, the intimacy of this show was quite refreshing.
Photos by David Perry
