Jazz Reviews - Concerts IneditsMichael Petrucciani - by Stuart Nicholson - Jazz Articles

Jazz Reviews: Concerts IneditsMichael Petrucciani - By Stuart Nicholson Jazz Articles
5/20/15, 10:47 AM
Log in
Sign up
January/February 2001
Michael Petrucciani
Concerts Inedits
Dreyfus Records
By Stuart Nicholson
Despite the unqualified admiration of just about everyone who counts on the international jazz circuit,
recognition that Michel Petrucciani had been perhaps the finest of all the young musicians who swept into jazz
during the last 20 or so years was only really forthcoming after his death on January 6, 1999. This seems to be
the way of things in jazz. Of its more recent fruhvollendet - "too early completed" - Jaco Pastorius, for example,
had to wait at least a decade for the dust to settle around his troubled life for his achievements to be seen with
the clarity they deserved.
http://jazztimes.com/articles/11885-concerts-inedits-michael-petrucciani
Page 1 of 6
5/20/15, 10:47 AM
Johanna Goodman
Michel Petrucciani
Petrucciani, in contrast, presented no extramural stumbling blocks to reach his music. An early departure was
not entirely unexpected of him he suffered from osteogenesis imperfecta, which made him no bigger than the
average four-year-old and such was his impetuously driven lyricism it often appeared he was intent on sharing
as much of his great gift as he could with his audiences before it was too late.
At concerts he paused for people to gawp at his tiny frame and for photographers to photograph, his
contribution to dispelling embarrassment and misunderstanding the disabled are still forced to struggle against,
saying I just get tired of people saying this guy is three feet tall, weighs 50 pounds and plays like a
motherfucker. Im like anybody else. I may look different but Im a normal musician. But as soon as he started
to play, audiences, and perhaps even Petrucciani himself, lost any sense of physical handicap. A romantic at
heart, his expansive imagination led him down unexpected improvisational byways with an open kinetic joy you
could almost reach out and touch.
Arriving in the USA from his native France in 1982, he made three albums with saxophonist Charles Lloyd,
whom he credits with kick-starting his "American career." By then he had already recorded four albums under
his own name in Europe, his first at the age of 16. When, in 1983, he signed with Concord Records he was just
21 years old. His first Stateside album, the solo 100 Hearts, revealed an almost nave desire to simultaneously
please and prove himself, but nevertheless earned him a prestigious Grand Prix du Disque award. While it
allowed glimpses of his prime influences (principally Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett), he never lost
sight of the bigger picture in striving for individuality of expression with a spiky lyricism and a sometimes
angular approach to the ground-beat.
In 1985 he became the first French musician to sign with Blue Note, with whom he would make seven albums
in a variety of contexts. But on his return to France in 1993 it was with Dreyfus Jazz that saw his brilliance, on
record at least, take flight. Although he had performed with Kenny Clarke when he was 15, his confidence had
grown immeasurably from his American experiences working with bassists of the stature of Dave Holland,
Page 2 of 6
5/20/15, 10:47 AM
Gary Peacock, Charlie Haden, Stanley Clarke, Eddie Gomez, Buster Williams and Cecil McBee, and drummers
such as Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, Jack DeJohnette, Lenny White, Billy Hart and Omar Hakim.
His debut album with Dreyfus was 1994s Marvellous, which displayed his powerful lyrical invention and his
love of strong melodic extemporization: "I am something of the Pavarotti of jazz," he joked. By now the
disparate elements that comprised his style had coalesced and it was clear that he was his own man and one of
the most complete pianists in jazz. As much at home playing duo with organist Eddy Louisse as he was with
veteran violinist Stephane Grappelli (their Dreyfus album Flamingo sold in excess of 100,000 copies), the 90s
also saw an increasing mastery of solo concerts, which he claimed was his favorite means of expression.
The three-CD Concerts Inedits comes from this period, when Petruccianis playing reached new levels of
creativity, with a disc devoted to Petrucciani playing solo, duo and with a trio. The set opens with his showstopping solo performance at the Antibes/Juan Les Pin Festival in 1993. This album, together with the highly
acclaimed Au Theatre des Champs-Elysees from 1994 and Solo Live (both on Dreyfuss) from 1997, show how
comfortably, and confidently, he inhabited this most demanding idiom. The ultimate display of truth, his playing
bursts with joyful brio and also flashes of mischief that collapsed the ritual seriousness that often surrounds jazz.
He reclaims "Autumn Leaves" as a French anthem (it was written by Jacques Prevert), and he wrings a
profoundly moving performance out of "Besame Mucho" that is as intense as anything he ever recorded.
The 1994 duo date is taken from a broadcast from the Jazzhouse in Copenhagen, with Niels-Henning Orsted
Pedersen on bass. Petrucciani would later refer to NHOP as a "monster of a bassist" and it is possible this
session is what convinced him: the bassist stiffening his sinews in swirling dialogues with the pianist. As they
thrust and parry through "Billies Bounce," their dialogue ever intense through key changes after each 12-bar
chorus, the level of creativity becomes hypnotic and compelling in a way few recordings from the last 20 years
achieved.
Petruccianis percussive attack on a 1994 concert in Japan, with his brother Louis on bass and drummer Lenny
White, reveals much inner detail within his phrasing: his melodic invention, his benevolent characterization of
Bud Powell, his building and expanding on the formers relentlessly energetic lines with soaring phrases,
swirling energy and honesty. On "Manhattan," his linear logic, melodic construction and rhythmic ingenuity
take precedence over elaborate reharmonization, while his version of "All the Things You Are" is nothing short
of a tour de force.
Taken together, this set captures creative jazz at its finest by a wonderful talent who almost visibly donned the
crown of greatness during those last few years of his life.
Originally published in January/February 2001
BUY THIS ALBUM from Amazon.com
STREAM THIS CD from Rhapsody.com
Add a Comment
You need to log in to comment on this article. No account? No problem!
E-mail
Share
RSS
Next Article
Albums
A Thousand Evenings
Page 3 of 6
5/20/15, 10:47 AM
Dave Douglas
Page 4 of 6
5/20/15, 10:47 AM
Related Labels
Dreyfus Records
More Articles by Stuart Nicholson

Bunny Berigan: Elusive Legend of Jazz
Robert Dupuis
Stuart Nicholson
Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain
George McKay
Stuart Nicholson
Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz
Joshua Berrett
Stuart Nicholson
Paris Jazz: A Guide from the Jazz Age to the Present
Luke Miner
Stuart Nicholson
The Parisian Jazz Chronicles
Mike Zwerin
Stuart Nicholson
Mike Westbrook: England's Dreamer
Stuart Nicholson
More Articles in Albums

Drum Lore Vol. 2: More Lore
Owen Howard
Thomas Conrad
Messin' With Mr. T
Dave Stryker
Owen Cordle
Slow Motion Miracles
Sachal
Page 5 of 6
5/20/15, 10:47 AM
Christopher Loudon
Duets
Kevin Eubanks/Stanley Jordan
Mike Joyce
From Darkness
Avishai Cohen Trio
Philip Booth
Texas Tenor
The Buddy Tate Quartet
David Whiteis
Company
About JazzTimes
Advertising
Contact Us
Privacy
Terms of Use
19992015 JazzTimes, Inc. All rights reserved.
Articles
Columns
Cuba
Departments
Education
Features
News
Photos
Community
Community Articles
Community Profiles
Contribute
Polls
Guides
Artists
Events
Labels
Schools
Promotions
Jazz MP3s
Sponsored Events
Sweepstakes
Reviews
Albums
Books
Concerts
Home Audio
Instruments
Movies
Shopping
Shop
Holiday Gift Guide
Subscriptions
Page 6 of 6

Jazz Reviews - Concerts IneditsMichael Petrucciani - by Stuart Nicholson - Jazz Articles

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Jazz Reviews - Concerts IneditsMichael Petrucciani - by Stuart Nicholson - Jazz Articles

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Jazz Reviews: Concerts IneditsMichael Petrucciani - By Stuart Nicholson Jazz Articles