Tickling the Ivories

CRESTVIEW - With the end of the school year, area teens often find themselves working at a variety of sometimes next-to-menial jobs for the summer.

Watching the workforce’s youngest members flipping burgers, cleaning tables, bagging groceries, mowing lawns and rounding up stray shopping carts evokes memories in many an adult of long hours worked for near minimum-wage paychecks.

Watching 15-year-old Jordan Colclasure of Crestview hard at work at his summer job, however, is sheer pleasure.

Since the beginning of May, Jordan’s been tickling the ivories each Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening at the Uptown Café on Woodruff Avenue.

The Crestview High School rising sophomore started piano lessons five years ago, and presently studies under the tutelage of the city’s first lady, Shirley Cadle, wife of Mayor David Cadle.

The first song that Jordan was paid to perform was “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me.”

Impressed by Jordan’s dedicated piano practicing, an electrician working at the family’s home told him he’d give Jordan $50 if he could play it flawlessly.

Upon his next visit, the young pianist surprised the contractor by having learned the request. And the electrician was true to his word.

“Our customers are impressed about how good he is for his age,” said Uptown Café manager Darlene Allen, who said the restaurant has a tradition of providing live music for its patrons. “They tip him well,” she added.

Jordan has developed a repertoire that appeals to a surprisingly broad spectrum of tastes.

“Some of the older piano songs people recognize and enjoy,” said Allen. “He also plays ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen and that’s real popular, too.”

Jordan’s eclectic mix of music combines everything from The Eagles to Duke Ellington and even the All-American Rejects. “We also asked him to learn ‘The Entertainer,’” said Allen.

The Manhattan Transfer’s perky “Lullaby of Birdland” mingles with The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun.” Sir Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets” is followed a few tunes later by “Angelina,” the memorable theme song to the TV series “Taxi.” And classics, including Beethoven’s familiar “Für Elise” and “La Donna e Mobile” from Verdi’s “Rigolleto,” aren’t neglected either.

Jordan is presently working on a fourth one-hour set, which includes familiar music from “Carmen” and “some Ray Charles,” he said. “But his music is kinda complicated.”

What’s Jordan’s most often-requested song” Appropriately, it’s Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.” But what is his own favorite tune? “’It Ends Tonight’ by the All-American Rejects,” he was quick to say, tinkling a few bars of the pop tune.

“Piano playing is like a dying art,” said Darlene Allen. “Younger people don’t do it much anymore.”

Working only for tips—and a plate of the Uptown Café’s renowned Italian cuisine—Jordan Colclasure can be heard Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 5:30 until 8:30. Under his talented fingers, the art of piano playing is far from dead.