Concerts Inedits [Box set, Live]

Michel Petrucciani | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 12, 2000)
• Original Release Date: September 12, 2000
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Box set, Live
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Dreyfus
• ASIN: B00004X0AQ
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #674,981 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Autumn Leaves - Michel Petrucciani, Kosma, Joseph

2. In a Sentimental Mood - Michel Petrucciani, Ellington, Duke

3. Take the "A" Train - Michel Petrucciani, Strayhorn, Billy

4. Besame Mucho - Michel Petrucciani, Skylar, Sunny

5. Hidden Joy - Michel Petrucciani, Ellington, Duke

6. Caravan - Michel Petrucciani, Ellington, Duke

See all 7 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. All the Things You Are - Michel Petrucciani, Hammerstein, Oscar

2. I Can't Get Started - Michel Petrucciani, Duke, Vernon

3. Oleo - Michel Petrucciani, Rollins, Sonny

4. All Blues - Michel Petrucciani, Davis, Miles

5. Beautiful Love - Michel Petrucciani, Gillespie, Haven

6. Someday My Prince Will Come - Michel Petrucciani, Churchill, Frank

See all 9 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Manhattan - Michel Petrucciani, Petrucciani, Michel

2. Charlie Brown - Michel Petrucciani, Petrucciani, Michel

3. On Green Dolphin Street - Michel Petrucciani, Kaper, Bronislaw

4. Les Grelots - Michel Petrucciani, Louiss, Eddy

5. All the Things You Are - Michel Petrucciani, Hammerstein, Oscar

6. Why? - Michel Petrucciani, Petrucciani, Philip

See all 8 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great memory, December 30, 2000

By	"eugenijus" (vilnius Lithuania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concerts Inedits (Audio CD)

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.