You’ll have no trouble believing he’s a former rocket scientist: This Frenchman has a brainiac way with the piano that’s meticulous and mathematical, but with a bit of the wild dishevelment found in a lab-bound academic. Sometimes I like him; other times (such as on his recent Dreyfus CD, New Dreams) there’s a saccharine experimentalism that’s way too ready for excerpt between segments of All Things Considered. Nonetheless! He’s still worth checking out, in part because of the fabulous drummer Ari Hoenig, who takes a “traditional” approach to the kit, but whose solos deploy space and melody in a way that manages to be arresting and unique.

Listen to a sample of Jean-Michel Pilc Trio’s “Widmu.”

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Fri., Oct. 26, 8:30 p.m., 2007