Andrew Bird performs at the Green Mill in Chicago on May 29, 2024. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)

Andrew Bird migrated back to Chicago last night, launching his new tour with a pair of shows at the Green Mill Lounge in Uptown. He led a trio of musicians performing jazz standards and a few favorites from his catalog.

Bird first played the Green Mill back in the 1990s when he was still an unknown singer-songwriter working on a music degree from Northwestern University.

Now, the Lake Forest native lives in California. He’s a Grammy nominee who has played everywhere from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House, and he even made his acting debut in the fourth season of “Fargo” on FX.

Bird’s own compositions reveal his omnivorous appetite for all flavors of music. But he’s always had a taste for jazz, and this night was all about rhythm and jazz.

Two sold-out shows and a multi-camera video recording setup were more attention than he ever got at the Green Mill in the early days, and he handled his assignment with cool composure, despite a couple of missteps.

“This is the first time we’re playing some of these songs live,” he said, and the crowd was forgiving when a song had to be restarted.

Bird’s tender, crooning voice makes perfect sense for the Cole Porter song “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” and “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. Vocally he can hang onto a note with a sweet vibrato that echoes the sounds coming from his violin.

He can also use the violin as a percussive instrument or make it wail like an electric guitar, boosted by an assortment of effects pedals at his feet. His swinging, confident playing might bring to mind another fine jazz violinist who frequented the Green Mill, the late, great Johnny Frigo (1916-2007).

Bird dug up the bluesy bones of songs including “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” and his expert rhythm section – Alan Hampton on upright bass and Ted Poor on drums and vibraphone – introduced a ravishing arrangement of “Caravan” in which Bird revealed the melody in a surprising way.

Many songs were a concise two or three minutes, while others left a lot of space for improvising. Bird played a few fan favorites, including “Why?” and “Bloodless” and the audience responded with adoration.

Between songs, Bird recalled his time living in Chicago in an apartment on Montrose 25 years ago, but then his train of thought went off the tracks: “I had some story to go with that but I forgot what it was.”

More than a violin virtuoso, Andrew Bird is also a wonderful whistler. And he doesn’t just whistle for novelty effect – he’s good at it in a pitch-perfect sort of way. It’s as much an instrument as his voice, violin or guitar. You get the sense he could make an album and play all the instruments.

Most of these intimate takes on beloved songs come from Bird’s new studio album, “Sunday Morning Put-On” (Loma Vista Recordings) a record that cries out to be put onto a turntable on a Sunday morning. It could sweeten your coffee and your mood.

Now 50 years old, Bird looks much younger. His slim profile, dry sense of humor and literate lyrics give him the vibe of a younger David Byrne. There’s a fearlessness about his approach that is fun to experience.

There were times when the trio arguably might have benefited from one more instrument here and there – a trumpet or a saxophone, perhaps – but mostly this was bare bones in the best possible way.

And for Bird, it was one more feather in his cap.

Andrew Bird appears at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Friday, May 31, for an evening of performance and conversation.