At the age of 25, pianist Aaron Parks is already a veteran of the jazz scene. After years on the road with top artists, he recently released his debut album on the prestigious Blue Note label. One listen to "Invisible Cinema" is all it takes to understand his rapid ascent. True to the title, every tune on the CD is an evocative journey.

Parks' own journey has taken place in the intellectual and creative fast lanes for much of his life. He now resides in musician-rich Brooklyn, but he grew up far from the jamming crowd on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, in a house on a bluff overlooking the water.

"Somehow they've got pot-smoking hippies and gun-toting rednecks coexisting perfectly in peace," says Parks, who quickly adds that he was raised by neither. His mother has a doctorate in child psychology and his father is a computer programmer; his home was brimming with creative energy.

"One of the things my parents instilled in me growing up was true self-motivation, creating an environment where children want to learn for the sake of learning," he says.

At home he heard world, new-age and ambient music, but his first foray into music-making was a bit more unusual. "When I was 9 or 10, I fell in love with the sounds of thunderstorms by the water," says Parks. "We had a piano and the only thing that really got me into it was a desire to imitate the sounds of the thunderstorms.

"I started to drive my parents crazy," he says. "They suggested lessons and I found that the type of music where you can improvise and make different sounds that aren't written - the name that they have for it so far is jazz."

To call Parks precocious would be an understatement. At 14 he began an early-entrance college program; by 15 he was attending the University of Washington with a triple-major in math, computer science, and music.

The computer science major was practical; he thought he would need these skills to make a living. Math and music were his passions. "I'm in love with numbers," says Parks. "I used to play around with patterns, and I was really into Fibonacci numbers [a sequence created by adding the two previous numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc.]. There are all sorts of beautiful and strange and poetic properties to these numbers. They keep on folding in on each other in different places."

Parks has used numbers in his music to create intervals, rhythms and melodies. However, "I'm more interested in singing on the piano and having a vocal quality than I am in being mathematical in my way of playing," he says. "When it comes to composing, I have an attraction to imperfect symmetry. I have a need for balance, but the bass lines in my songs almost always have their own melody."

When he moved to New York to study with pianist Kenny Barron, he stepped onto another fast track. Barron introduced him to Terence Blanchard, and at 18 he began a five-year stint touring with the trumpeter. Parks valued the way Blanchard allowed sidemen the freedom to make mistakes and develop.

He also worked with the young guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. "Kurt reminds me of John Coltrane in terms of creating systems and theories and building compositions around them," says Parks. "He's created an entirely new language of jazz improvisation. He's a true heavyweight."

And Parks owes a debt to drummer Eric Harland, who has been in every group he's played with. He calls Harland one of the guardian angels of his career.

When he visits Rochester for the RIJF, he'll be in a trio setting with Ben Street on bass and Eastman School of Music graduate Ted Poor on drums.

"Invisible Cinema" has garnered excellent reviews here and abroad. Especially notable is the unique sound of his piano merged with Mike Moreno's guitar on Parks' extraordinary composition "Peaceful Warrior."

Although his album has a more abstract concept - cinematic music without the film - there are some film scores that Parks admires greatly. "‘Pan's Labyrinth' by Javier Navarrete; it's so much fairy tale, and I'm all about the fairy tale," says Parks. "I also like Alberto Iglesias, who did ‘Talk to Her.'"

But Parks' influences come from all over the place, from singer-songwriter Elliott Smith and rock groups King Crimson and Radiohead, to jazz greats Lee Konitz, Lennie Tristano, and Paul Bley.

"My favorite player in the jazz world is Paul Bley - him and Miles Davis," Parks says.

Parks also feels an affinity with composer Béla Bartók, who was mathematical in his approach to music. "He loves numbers, lullabies and folk songs."

Despite its success, Parks is not about to follow "Invisible Cinema" with more music in the same vein. "It already feels like an artifact to me. It's a good demo. I want to keep growing," he says.

Aaron Parks Trio

Xerox Auditorium

6:30 & 9 p.m. | $20