A Piano Man Cometh to the Hotel Constance, As Bacchus Live Hits the Road

“Swing and Stride” master Ehud Asherie will please the earbuds of listeners at the Hotel Constance as Chef Claud Beltran treats their taste buds.

The Bacchus LIVE series will, in a sense, be on the road Feb. 22 at the Constance to promote its own upcoming spring/summer concert series cycle.

Bacchus has chosen the Big Apple’s premier jazz club pianist to recreate the kind of environment in which he matured, refining his chops before some of the most demanding fans in the world.

“Bluesy,” “jazzy,” “American Rhapsody-esqe” are terms that effectively depict at least a portion of Asherie’s repertoire, which echoes with George Gershwin’s musical take on the frantic magic of the east coast urban industrial machine, at the 20th century’s early stage, and makes it something new: interprets it the way all original artists do.

Asherie at the piano sounds just like what he is, an Israeli-born transplant to New York who learned the craft by bumming it at Smalls jazz club in Greenwich Village; first sitting around digging all-night jams and eventually sitting-in on them, mashing 88 keys till the wee hours.

Beltran has concocted a “small bites” menu for the special event and the bar is always there with a plethora of potent potables, there is no cover, so those extras are the financial responsibility of the jazz reveler.

The Bacchus live series takes place at the restaurant of the same name where Chef Claud Beltran reigns. The Spring Summer series shakes out thusly: Barbara Johnson (jazz, blues and soul), March 18; American Youth Symphony & String Quartet and the Colburn Jazz Ensemble, April 14; Larry Fuller Trio (swinging piano trio master); May 20; Maureen Choi(flamenco, jazz and beyond from Spain), June 24; Joshu Nelson’s Discovery Project (music and imagery immersion, July 21; and Tierney Sutton, Aug. 11

Reservations to the events should be made directly with the Hotel Constance, (323) 500-1180. The restaurant is located at 928 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena. For information, call (626) 594-6377 or look online at bacchuslive.com