In a Sentimental Mood - Michel Petrucciani, Ellington, Duke
Take the "A" Train - Michel Petrucciani, Strayhorn, Billy
Besame Mucho - Michel Petrucciani, Skylar, Sunny
Hidden Joy - Michel Petrucciani, Ellington, Duke
Caravan - Michel Petrucciani, Ellington, Duke
'Round Midnight - Michel Petrucciani, Hanighen, Bernie
Track Listings (9) - Disc #2
All the Things You Are - Michel Petrucciani, Hammerstein, Oscar
I Can't Get Started - Michel Petrucciani, Duke, Vernon
Oleo - Michel Petrucciani, Rollins, Sonny
All Blues - Michel Petrucciani, Davis, Miles
Beautiful Love - Michel Petrucciani, Gillespie, Haven
Someday My Prince Will Come - Michel Petrucciani, Churchill, Frank
Billie's Bounce - Michel Petrucciani, Parker, Charlie [Sa
Blues in the Closet - Michel Petrucciani, Pettiford, Oscar
My Funny Valentine - Michel Petrucciani, Hart, Lorenz
Track Listings (8) - Disc #3
Manhattan - Michel Petrucciani, Petrucciani, Michel
Charlie Brown - Michel Petrucciani, Petrucciani, Michel
On Green Dolphin Street - Michel Petrucciani, Kaper, Bronislaw
Les Grelots - Michel Petrucciani, Louiss, Eddy
All the Things You Are - Michel Petrucciani, Hammerstein, Oscar
Why? - Michel Petrucciani, Petrucciani, Philip
Tutu - Michel Petrucciani, Miller, Marcus
Dumb Breaks - Michel Petrucciani, Petrucciani, Michel
Pianist Michel Petrucciani's death in early 1999 passed without much notice in the U.S. This three-CD box set arrives in late 2000 to display several sides of the late pianist's fine, precise, and often genuinely exciting ... more »playing. The first CD finds him soloing at the Festival d'Antibes in 1993; the second is a duo concert with bassist Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen at the Copenhagen Jazzhouse in 1994; and the third is a trio with his brother Louis Petrucciani on bass and Lenny White on drums, recorded at Nabari in Japan in 1994. All three concerts are rich with jazz standards and ballads, and each shows just how wonderfully expressive his playing could be. But it's on the solo disc that he shines, playing not so much like Bill Evans, to whom he was sometimes obliquely compared, but with an energy and percussiveness closer to Oscar Peterson's. Petrucciani also had the ability to find new meaning (or maybe discover original sources) for some of jazz's most overplayed classics. On "Take the A Train," for example, he finds a boogie-woogie prototype for Duke Ellington's composition, and "Caravan" he plays with a Mediterranean attitude. "'Round Midnight," on the other hand, emerges as downright funky. Because of the malady (malfunctioning osteogenesis) that gave him his tiny size and kept him in constant pain, there is a tendency to wonder that he could play at all. But these three concerts remind us that Petrucciani was one of the best pianists of his generation, and someone whose work deserves closer attention. This set is something of a memorial, but also an excellent introduction to him. --John F. Szwed« less
Pianist Michel Petrucciani's death in early 1999 passed without much notice in the U.S. This three-CD box set arrives in late 2000 to display several sides of the late pianist's fine, precise, and often genuinely exciting playing. The first CD finds him soloing at the Festival d'Antibes in 1993; the second is a duo concert with bassist Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen at the Copenhagen Jazzhouse in 1994; and the third is a trio with his brother Louis Petrucciani on bass and Lenny White on drums, recorded at Nabari in Japan in 1994. All three concerts are rich with jazz standards and ballads, and each shows just how wonderfully expressive his playing could be. But it's on the solo disc that he shines, playing not so much like Bill Evans, to whom he was sometimes obliquely compared, but with an energy and percussiveness closer to Oscar Peterson's. Petrucciani also had the ability to find new meaning (or maybe discover original sources) for some of jazz's most overplayed classics. On "Take the A Train," for example, he finds a boogie-woogie prototype for Duke Ellington's composition, and "Caravan" he plays with a Mediterranean attitude. "'Round Midnight," on the other hand, emerges as downright funky. Because of the malady (malfunctioning osteogenesis) that gave him his tiny size and kept him in constant pain, there is a tendency to wonder that he could play at all. But these three concerts remind us that Petrucciani was one of the best pianists of his generation, and someone whose work deserves closer attention. This set is something of a memorial, but also an excellent introduction to him. --John F. Szwed
"This is an excellent three-CD set, organized as "Trio," "Duo," and "Solo." On the "Trio" album we find Michel working with his brother, Louis, on bass, and drummer Lenny White in a set recorded live in Japan in 1999. Petrucciani opens at a hell-bent pace with the original composition "Manhattan," playing with the unusual rhythmic fluency that was such an integral part of his style. The piece is a rave-up, with brother Louis and White providing dynamic support and energetic short solos. The following seven tracks provide the same level of compelling interplay. "All the Things You Are," another number taken uptempo, is a great example of Petrucciani's gift for finding and pursuing tangents within a melody. "Duo" is, in some ways, the most exciting disc of the three. Petrucciani was always particularly stellar when working in a duet configuration. The final disc of the three, "Solo," is a live recording from the 1993 Antibes Juan Les Pins Jazz Festival. Petrucciani's exceptional feel for the nuances of melody is most vividly reflected in these tracks. He assays, with considerable flair and relish, Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" and "Caravan," as well as Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train" (that's a hell of a left hand at work on this tune), and Consuelo Velasquez's "Besame Mucho." He concludes with a passionate reading of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight." It is best memory of Michel Petrucciani."
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1
