(Enlarge) George Colligan will perform as part of the 2nd Saturday Café concert series in Columbia.

George Colligan has his own philosophy, whether it comes to plying his brand of jazz or going to hear someone else's.

Colligan, a Columbia native who returns home this week to perform with his trio at the 2nd Saturday Café April 11, likens live jazz to the unpredictability of life itself.

"A jazz concert is something that has never happened before; it's only going to happen at that moment," says the Centennial High School graduate, now based in New York City. "Most other music you hear is so carefully programmed and thought out that it almost misses the human element.

"Let's say that you went out on a date with a woman and everything that you did was pre-planned," Colligan muses. "There would be no spontaneity. It wouldn't be life -- it would be predictable. But jazz is unpredictable -- and that's what makes life interesting."

Colligan definitely knows his jazz. Since he left Maryland for Brooklyn, N.Y. in mid-1995, he has released 18 CDs, toured with jazz great Cassandra Wilson, and become a widely respected jazz pianist on the national scene.

He is also a true product of Columbia and its school system. He came of age in the Longfellow section of Harper's Choice village, and developed his love of jazz under the influence of former Harper's Choice Middle School band teacher Lee Stevens.

His first instrument was the trumpet, and he became a good enough player that he was admitted to the Peabody Conservatory of Music. But he began to feel his talents on the trumpet were "inconsistent" and made the unconventional move of switching completely to piano while at Peabody.

Colligan's keyboard proficiency earned him a prestigious post-college gig as part of a jazz trio at Baltimore's Hyatt Regency Hotel. He also served as musical director for Peabody's jazz program, and began playing with some name players.

In New York he played sessions with the likes of leading jazz lights Lenny White, Vanessa Rubin, Janis Siegel, the Manhattan Transfer and the Lonnie Plaxico Group.

Plaxico served as an entry into Cassandra Wilson's band. When Colligan began serving as the Grammy Award-winning artist's first-ever full time keyboardist, his reputation got a giant boost.

More recently, Colligan landed a stint teaching at the world-renowned Juilliard School.

"I've been there for two years," he says. "I like it. At the moment, it's a way to supplement my income and the students are on a pretty high level. Plus, it's nice to be in the company of some of the high-profile faculty members. Ron Carter is on the faculty now," he notes, referring to the legendary bassist. "So that's pretty cool."

Colligan now heads a trio composed of former Baltimore bassist Josh Ginsberg and drummer EJ Strickland. He calls the group a traditional jazz trio that's not afraid to push traditional boundaries.

Expect to hear music beyond the scope of your average jazz group when he plays in Columbia, he says.

"There will be a mixture of music," he explains. "There will be some standard jazz material, plus some stuff that maybe doesn't quite fall under the category of jazz but will be done in a jazzy way. And also some original music.

"We're essentially a jazz trio, but not as traditional as, say, Oscar Peterson or Bill Evans. I draw from those influences, but some of our music is fairly contemporary. I like to go a lot of different places musically. Sometimes I do some Beatles tunes, or some Stevie Wonder tunes, or maybe a Bonnie Raitt tune here and there."

Colligan's range of influences reflects the wide-angle approach he has always taken to music.

"I started listening to a lot of different things," he explains. "You can always make a stylistic distinction or look at characteristics of certain styles, but I don't think there was ever a style of music I didn't like. Even pop music -- although I came up in the 1980s, so a lot of pop music was pretty annoying."

Colligan, who now calls the Forest Hills section of Queens home, is adamant that jazz has to be somewhat off-the-cuff to maintain its vitality.

"At my gigs, I always try to do something that I've never done before," he says. "If it's material we know, we try to do it different every time and keep it fresh.

"That's the great thing about seeing live jazz as opposed to recorded music or a pop band that just plays pretty much the same way every night. We never know what's gonna happen. And people should hopefully delight in witnessing something completely spontaneous."

Colligan has been on a roll lately with CD releases, having put one out in the fall and recorded another recently. He says the latest will reflect both his broad tastes and the compositional skills that won him a Chamber Music America Award for composition.

"It might be called 'Come Together,'" he says of the forthcoming disc. "It will be one cover of the Beatles song, maybe another jazz standard, and then all originals."

George Colligan will perform as part of the 2nd Saturday Concert Series Saturday, April 11, 7-11 p.m., in Oliver's Carriage House (5410 Leaf Treader Way, Columbia). Admission is $20 general, $10 for children under age 16. Call 410-913-9812 or go to www.2ndsaturdaycafe.com.

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