The late music govt Bruce Lundvall made a promise within the Seventies that “if one day I become president of a big label, the first artist I will sign will be Michel Petrucciani.” When he took over as president of the reactivated Blue Notice Data in 1984, one in all Lundvall’s first acts was to make Petrucciani – whom he described as “this amazing player; long lines, a beautiful, conceptual player, a creative player” – the primary European signee to Blue Notice. It was the beginning of an impressive nine-year collaboration, throughout which the French pianist recorded seven albums for the hallowed imprint.
“I accepted without hesitation,” recalled Petrucciani, who was flown to America on the Concorde. “When I arrived in New York, I said, ‘Where do we sign?’ without even reading the contract, the conditions, nothing at all. I was so happy to be there, I didn’t ask myself any questions.” Lundvall, who died in Might 2015, remained pleased with his daring transfer: “Petrucciani became a bit of a phenomenon in his own way,” he mentioned.
Take heed to The Michel Petrucciani Trio’s Pianism now.
Petrucciani, a winner of the distinguished Prix Django Reinhardt in 1983, was well-known in France by the point he signed to Blue Notice. And he was eight days in need of his twenty third birthday when he recorded his debut Blue Notice album Pianism on December 20, 1985 on the Studio C of the RCA Studios in New York.
The album options 4 unique Petrucciani compositions – “Our Tune,” “Face’s Face,” “Regina,” and “The Prayer” (the longest tune on the report at 11 minutes), and interpretations of the Cole Porter traditional “Night and Day” and “Here’s That Rainy Day,” a massively fashionable track from the Fifties which was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke.
Petrucciani recorded the album as a part of a trio, assisted by double bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Eliot Zigmund. Danielsson had been a longstanding member of Keith Jarrett’s quartet and had performed with Konitz and Petrucciani’s piano hero Invoice Evans. Zigmund, in the meantime, additionally performed usually with Evans. When the trio went into the studio in December, that they had simply accomplished a six-week, 32-concert tour, which had cemented a fabulous mutual musical understanding.
The manufacturing of the album, nevertheless, wasn’t with out incident. Mike Berniker – a former school roommate of Lundvall – requested Petrucciani to report a model of the Superman theme. “I said ‘no, no and no, I can’t do something like that’, and I called Bruce Lundvall to tell him there was no way I was going to do that,” recalled Petrucciani. “He came to the RCA Studio, in New York, and it worked out in the end.” Invoice Evans – the connective tissue between Danielsson and Zigmund – had an plain affect on the proceedings. You possibly can hear Evans in a number of the chord constructions of the tunes. Petrucciani’s personal compositions, in the meantime, allowed his present for two-handed melodic invention to flourish, utilizing the Steinway piano he at all times favored. “I don’t believe in geniuses,” he mentioned. “I believe in hard work,” however, in reality, his taking part in was a mirrored image of each qualities.
Though Petrucciani had been making information since 1980, in some ways, Pianism was a breakthrough album for the pianist and the start – with Blue Notice – of a journey of musical discovery.
Take heed to The Michel Petrucciani Trio’s Pianism now.
