This album features French piano prodigy Michel Petrucciani in a solo recording from Silkeborg Church, 1990. MP was one of the most popular pianists in the 1990’s due to his extraordinary technique, his astounding musical outlook and extremely dynamic playing style. His music is simply timeless and magical, seemingly coming straight from his soul. As he is often quoted: “I’m not playing to your head, but to your soul. When I play, I’m like a bird flying over the landscape, and I can land anywhere.”

Recorded on June 23, 1990 at the Silkeborg Riverboat Jazz Festival in Denmark, this album is a tour de force that leads the listener through a series of the most iconic motifs in jazz, all of which are deconstructed and transformed by an outstanding craftsman and embellished along the way by a true master. And he also allows himself to insert unexpected twists and turns that are guaranteed to make the listener smile. Pay special attention to his small rhythmic and melodic tags, little hints for the well-trained ear. They reveal a musician who never grows complacent or takes himself too seriously. Here, the totality of MP’s talents are exhibited in an intimate setting, where he stuns the crowd with his inventive and blindingly rapid playing. The music emanating from the man simply grabs everybody’s attention. Arrangements by jazz legends like Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis gets the cheeky Petrucciani treatment with his rather audacious approach to ‘established’ jazz standards. MP had the ability to effortlessly travel through the history of jazz on his piano, fascinating his audience in the process. This church concert clearly displays why MP quickly developed into a truly exceptional member of the international jazz scene.

REVIEW:

A concert by Petrucciani is a complete piano listening experience where the full range of the instrument comes into play. He worked best as a soloist as he throws in ‘Jean Pierre’ from Miles Davis, pulls in ‘St Thomas’ from Sonny Rollins edits in Juan Tizol’s ‘Caravan’. All the execution and the improvisation are carried out at the speed of thought with the relentless rhythm. The dynamics are every bit as effective as the Basie band. All the time his work is exuberant, joyful, rhythmically propulsive, spontaneous, and full of passion with an unrelenting drive. This is an album that is a wonderful memory of a lost genius who had a blistering talent.

-- Jazz Views