Steve Schmidt   

Steve Schmidt plays piano. Even in the absence of a piano. His muscular, almost ruddy, fingers are splayed, drumming, no -- tickling -- the tabletop of a bar-side booth at Kaldi's on Main Street. His massive head is bowed and slightly turned to the side, as though he's playing them changes and listening to a rhythm section. His trademark shock of gray hair is particularly unwieldy. Schmidt, 49, has decades of practice at bandstand, rehearsal and recording decorum. When pressed, he surmises he knows somewhere around 2,000 songs and has played on 45 recordings, from The Blue Wisp Big Band to the Count Basie Orchestra.