Michel Petrucciani’s Michel Performs Petrucciani is a brief 44-minute album of 9 authentic compositions. Nonetheless, it has pleasant work from the French pianist. And apart from, as Petrucciani joked: “About 20 minutes a side was good… Don’t forget that I’m from the south of France, so don’t ask too much of me… nap time is important.”
Jokes apart, Petrucciani started slicing the Blue Word album on September 24, 1987 (ending in December that yr) utilizing two separate trios for either side of the album. He mentioned he took the thought for the format from McCoy Tyner’s 1977 album Supertrios. There was even some overlap with personnel. Puerto Rico-born bass performed Eddie Gómez – who had additionally toured with Invoice Evans, Gerry Mulligan and Chick Corea – performed on the second facet of Supertrios and did the identical for Petrucciani, taking part in on all Facet B compositions: “One Night At Ken And Jessica’s,” “It’s A Dance,” “La Champagne,” and “Brazilian Suite”, which featured samba percussion specialist Steve Thornton. The drummer for that facet of the document was Al Foster, greatest recognized for his work with trumpeter Miles Davis.
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The pianist had initially additionally wished to make use of Tyner’s drummer Jack DeJohnette in one other nod to the unique album, however bass participant Gary Peacock recommended that Petrucciani as a substitute rent Roy Haynes. Petrucciani was happy with the selection and went on to work recurrently with Haynes within the years afterward. Haynes, whose CV reads like a who’s who of jazz – and contains drumming with Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, Lester Younger, Kenny Burrell, and Cal Tjader – beloved taking part in alongside Petrucciani and later mentioned: “I’m known for putting cats in the pocket [an analogy used by jazz musicians for finding exactly the right tempo] and I put Michel in the pocket. That’s what I do.”
Haynes and Peacock joined Petrucciani for some hard-swinging variations of “She Did It Again,” “Sahara,” “13th,” “Mr. K.J.,” and “One for Us.” On the five-minute delight “One for Us,” they have been joined by particular visitor John Abercrombie, who informed NPR in 2012 that “Michel’s sense of swing was powerful… Michel was a serious musician who had a great joy in playing music. It was really what he lived for.”
The album, which was co-produced by Petrucciani’s supervisor Eric Kressmann, was above all a showcase for the pianist’s compositional expertise. Petrucciani, who was born with osteogenesis imperfecta (glass bone illness) on December 28, 1962, had by no means gone to highschool – he spent his youth taking part in piano for 10 hours a day – and introduced an eclectic set of influences to his composing. He skilled for 2 years as a classical pianist – and beloved Mozart, Ravel, Debussy, and Rachmaninov. He additionally expressed an admiration for the pop music of Prince, Madonna, and Jimi Hendrix.
In his personal compositions, he got here up with authentic quick bop strains (as on “Mr. K.J.”) and in addition blended in phrases by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie to his different compositions. “All musicians borrow. It’s like words: you reorganize them in your own way, and create a style,” he as soon as defined. The pulsating “She Did It Again” demonstrated his skill to provide you with driving rhythms and good hooks.
Michel Performs Petrucciani was recorded on the iconic (and now vanished) Clinton Recording Studios on tenth Avenue in New York. Inside the musician’s different again catalogue, the album is a small gem, but it surely’s clear that the New York studio introduced out the very best in him. As he defined after the document got here out: “I felt like being in New York was being in the heart of jazz. New York is my energy.”
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