Sunday afternoon, the top of Eden Park looked like a fine arts Riverfest, as gridlocked traffic surrounded the Cincinnati Art Museum. But while most of the crowd was there for the old masters, a young one held forth in the museum's theater.

        Only a hundred or so lucky jazz fans heard Benny Green's concert, part of the Xavier Jazz Piano series, but people will be talking about it for years to come.

        It was an astounding performance on every level. With his shy stage presence, scruffy hair and ill-fitting suit, the boyish-looking Mr. Green, 37, arrived onstage looking as if he were suffering through his bar mitzvah. His awkwardness disappeared once he sat at the Baldwin grand.

        Backed by his regular trio — bassist Brandon Owens and drummer Rodney Green (no relation) — Mr. Green displayed an incredible command of the keyboard.

        He opened with “I Can't Give You Anything But Love,” a common jazz standard, but not the way he plays it. He showed his dizzyingly fast right hand, which he occasionally matched with his left in jaw-dropping runs doubled in octaves.

        But he was no mere technician. His solos sparkled with bursts of elfin wit, as he dropped unexpected notes, harmonies and beats into his improvisations.

        His choice of material could be just as surprising. His second song was “Together, Wherever We Go,” from the musical Gypsy. But with the other Mr. Green working his brushes over his minimal drum kit and Mr. Owens' walking the bass, the pianist turned it into pure jazz.

        He slowed down with a mid-tempo reading of Nat ""King'' Cole's “Let There Be Love,” then played some blues, before closing the first set with Charlie Parker's “Passport.”

        The warp-speed bebop gave him another chance to work that blurring right hand. Again, despite the speed, every note was clearly articulated with an underlying musicality that kept it from becoming an athletic display.

        But the surprise came when Mr. Green took “Passport” back to its roots in the “I Got Rhythm” chord progression. Suddenly, the rhythm section dropped out, and Mr. Green played the tune in swinging, two-fisted stride style a la Fats Waller. It was just one more weapon in his seemingly endless arsenal of jazz “chops.”

        The concert's second half was just as good, as the Benny Green Trio worked through material ranging from the blazing bop of “Yardbird Suite” to a lushly reflective “Someone to Watch Over Me.”

        As America goes Jazz-crazy with Ken Burns' new series, Mr. Green and company made the music sound brand new, capturing the joyous spontaneity and “sound of surprise” that has always been at the heart of the best jazz.

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