The Artistry of… Adrean Farrugia
Art is precious. Pianist Adrean Farrugia is an artist. He treats music with respect. He is generous, and the music he makes is rich in texture and adventurous. He is a composer. He creates and shares.
The music he makes plays with tradition as it stands on the shoulders of the giants of the genre. There is a universal spirituality, too, and there lies the discipline within his artistic adventures.
I know he is an educator, a passionate teacher, and his accolades as an award-winning musician are impressive. But who he is was defined for me one afternoon not long ago in a popular downtown jazz venue. I saw him between sets have time to share some of his generous teaching with a young girl; she had been pretending to play what he had been playing during the set, kind of like air piano against the table where she sat. I saw it and pointed her out to him. Without hesitation, he invited the young girl up on stage while the rest of the band was on break. There, the two of them sat side by side like teacher and student, while he patiently showed her a few notes and chords. It was cute, it was right, it was precious and, most of all, it was true to the artist, teacher and sharer.
In those moments, his artistry was crystal clear. Artist, teacher, gentleman.
The Artistry of… is a weekly series that reflects on the passion and essence of an artist. It airs Wednesday evenings on Dinner Jazz with John Devenish.