MICHEL PETRICCIANI BOTH WORLDS LIVE - North Sea Jazz Festival
Dreyfus FDM538192130 (2CD & DVD)
Michel Petrucciani piano; Anthony Jackson bass; Steve Gadd drums; Flavio Boltro trumpet and flugel horn; Stefano Di Batista alto and soprano saxophones; Denis Leloup trombone
Petrucciani died six months after his appearance at the North Sea Jazz Festival. No one was surprised; he had battled against the odds all his brief life. He gave the impression that he knew he did not have the usual life span and so there was an urgency to a great deal of his music. The best CDs are the ones where Petrucciani plays solo or with his trio. Being able to enjoy his zestful playing at length and in full flow is one of the great pleasures in piano jazz. His solos on the set from the festival is as good a anything we have heard in the past.
All the music from the festival was written by Petrucciani except Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Take The A Train’. Petrucciani had developed his own arrangement of the piece which he played around the world to great acclaim. Here he expands that arrangement with its driving opening for the three horns. Steve Gadd is an extraordinary drummer: sensitive when it is called for and driving and assertive when the pianist needs it. Anthony Jackson uses the bass to complement Gadd. Boltro has a clean tone and he hits notes with a bell like clarity. Di Batista on alto has an anonymous tone but great facility. Leloup’s trombone is fast and fluid. Gadd excels on ‘Chimes’. Difficult, at times, to resist a comparison with Blakey’s Jazz Messengers but this group would not come out well from that.
The Second CD was recorded in 1997 with the Hague Philharmonic. Somewhere in the minds of successful jazz musicians is the need to appear before or write for symphony orchestras. Few of these ventures are successful. This is no exception. The writing for the orchestra sounds like a blend of Michel Legrand and Leonard Bernstein in his stage musical phase. There are two pieces: ‘Home’ and ‘Trilogy In Blois’. They are a kind of piano concertos. Petrucciani reins in his usual exuberance and at time the music sounds almost sentimental whereas his jazz playing never does. It is pleasant music but it is not memorable. If he had lived maybe Petrucciani might have been able to tame the intractable beast that is the symphony orchestra and produce music of substance.
At the end of CD2 is a short track from the Montreux Jazz Festival: a duet with Steve Gadd around Petrucciani’s delightful piece ‘Little Peace in C For U’. It is everything that the symphonic compositions are not.
The DVD, the third part of the package is a video recording of all the music on the first CD. Good to have. The sleeve notes are supplied by Michel’s son, Alexandre Petrucciani. The main notes, pretty glutinous, are by Bruno Pfeiffer.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Dreyfus FDM538192130 (2CD & DVD)
Michel Petrucciani piano; Anthony Jackson bass; Steve Gadd drums; Flavio Boltro trumpet and flugel horn; Stefano Di Batista alto and soprano saxophones; Denis Leloup trombone
Petrucciani died six months after his appearance at the North Sea Jazz Festival. No one was surprised; he had battled against the odds all his brief life. He gave the impression that he knew he did not have the usual life span and so there was an urgency to a great deal of his music. The best CDs are the ones where Petrucciani plays solo or with his trio. Being able to enjoy his zestful playing at length and in full flow is one of the great pleasures in piano jazz. His solos on the set from the festival is as good a anything we have heard in the past.
All the music from the festival was written by Petrucciani except Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Take The A Train’. Petrucciani had developed his own arrangement of the piece which he played around the world to great acclaim. Here he expands that arrangement with its driving opening for the three horns. Steve Gadd is an extraordinary drummer: sensitive when it is called for and driving and assertive when the pianist needs it. Anthony Jackson uses the bass to complement Gadd. Boltro has a clean tone and he hits notes with a bell like clarity. Di Batista on alto has an anonymous tone but great facility. Leloup’s trombone is fast and fluid. Gadd excels on ‘Chimes’. Difficult, at times, to resist a comparison with Blakey’s Jazz Messengers but this group would not come out well from that.
The Second CD was recorded in 1997 with the Hague Philharmonic. Somewhere in the minds of successful jazz musicians is the need to appear before or write for symphony orchestras. Few of these ventures are successful. This is no exception. The writing for the orchestra sounds like a blend of Michel Legrand and Leonard Bernstein in his stage musical phase. There are two pieces: ‘Home’ and ‘Trilogy In Blois’. They are a kind of piano concertos. Petrucciani reins in his usual exuberance and at time the music sounds almost sentimental whereas his jazz playing never does. It is pleasant music but it is not memorable. If he had lived maybe Petrucciani might have been able to tame the intractable beast that is the symphony orchestra and produce music of substance.
At the end of CD2 is a short track from the Montreux Jazz Festival: a duet with Steve Gadd around Petrucciani’s delightful piece ‘Little Peace in C For U’. It is everything that the symphonic compositions are not.
The DVD, the third part of the package is a video recording of all the music on the first CD. Good to have. The sleeve notes are supplied by Michel’s son, Alexandre Petrucciani. The main notes, pretty glutinous, are by Bruno Pfeiffer.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
