Jean-Michel Pilc (born October 19, 1960, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pianist, composer and educator currently living in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Music career

A native of Paris, Pilc moved to New York City in 1995. He started a trio with drummer Ari Hoenig and bassist François Moutin that released the album ''Together: Live at Sweet Basil'' (A Records, 2000). Pilc has also performed at Birdland, the Blue Note, and

Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States. The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, perform ...

. He signed a multi-record contract with Dreyfus, which released his album ''Welcome Home'' with the same trio in 2002. His next album, ''Cardinal Points'' (Dreyfus, 2003) was selected by ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growt ...

'' magazine as one of the top fifty albums of the year. The album included Pilc's long composition "Trio Sonata". which was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Pilc and his trio were recorded live at

Iridium Jazz Club The Iridium is a music club located on Broadway in New York City. The club featured weekly performances by Les Paul for nearly fifteen years. History The club opened in January 1994 at its original location, at 63rd Street and Broadway in th ...

in October 2004. The resulting live album was released by Dreyfus in October 2005. He released ''New Dreams'' with this trio in 2007, also on the Dreyfus label. He was music director for Harry Belafonte and has composed music for films. He has worked with John Abercrombie,

Richard Bona Richard Bona (born 28 October 1967) is a Cameroon-born American multi-instrumentalist and singer. Early life Bona Penda Nya Yuma Elolo was born in Minta, Cameroon, into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a y ...

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...

André Ceccarelli André "Dédé" Ceccarelli (born 5 January 1946) is a French jazz drummer. Biography After learning to play the drums from his father, Ceccarelli started out playing in the salons of the Hotel Royal Nice Promenade des Anglais at the age of fi ...

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (born March 13, 1925) is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jaz ...

, Daniel Humair,

Dave Liebman David Liebman (born September 4, 1946) is an American saxophonist, flautist and jazz educator. He is known for his innovative lines and use of atonality. He was a frequent collaborator with pianist Richie Beirach. In June 2010, he received ...

Michel Portal Michel Portal (born 27 November 1935) is a French composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He plays both jazz and classical music and is considered to be "one of the architects of modern European jazz". Early life Portal was born in Bayonne on ...

Aldo Romano Aldo Romano (born 16 January 1941) is an Italian jazz drummer. He also founded a rock group in 1971. Biography He was born in Belluno, Italy. Romano moved to France as a child and by the 1950s he was playing guitar and drums professionally in P ...

Martial Solal Martial Solal (born August 23, 1927) is a French jazz pianist and composer. Biography Solal was born in Algiers, French Algeria, to Algerian Jewish parents. He was persuaded to study clarinet, saxophone, and piano by his mother, who was an oper ...

, and

Jean Toussaint Jean Toussaint (born July 27, 1960) is an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. Life and career Toussaint was born in Aruba, Dutch Antilles, and was raised in Saint Thomas and New York City. He learned to play calypso as a child and att ...

. In 2002 he received the Django Reinhardt Prize from the French Jazz Academy.

Personal life

Pilc has taught at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, in New York,

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and currently teaches at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

in Montreal, Canada. He has two children.

Discography

* 1989 ''Funambule'' (Blue Line) * 1993 ''Big One'' * 2000 ''Together: Live at Sweet Basil'' (A/Challenge) * 2001 ''Together: Live at Sweet Basil, Vol. 2'' ( Challenge) * 2001 ''The Long Journey'' with

Hein van de Geyn Hein van de Geyn (born 18 July 1956) is a jazz double bassist, composer and band leader from the Netherlands. Van de Geyn also teaches double bass and music. Early life Hein van de Geyn was born in Schijndel, Netherlands on 18 July 1956. He st ...

(Challenge) * 2002 ''Welcome Home'' ( Dreyfus) * 2003 ''Cardinal Points'' (Dreyfus) * 2004 ''Follow Me'' (Dreyfus) * 2005 ''Live at Iridium, New York'' (Dreyfus) * 2007 ''New Dreams'' (Dreyfus) * 2010 ''True Story'' (Dreyfus) *2011 ''Essential'' ( Motéma) * 2011 ''Threedom'' (Motéma) * 2015 ''Composing'' ( Storyville) *2015 ''What Is This Thing Called?'' ( Sunnyside) *2017 ''Magic Circle'' with

Sam Newsome Sam Newsome (born April 28, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator. His music combines straight-ahead jazz, world music (drawing influences from North Africa and East Asia) and experimental jazz, which uses extended techni ...

(Self-Produced) *2018 ''Parallel'' (Challenge) *2021 ''Children's Scenes'' ( Justin Time) *2021 ''Visions'' (Justin Time) *2022 ''Gratitude Suite'' (Justin Time) *2022 ''Alive: Live at Dièse Onze, Montréal'' (Justin Time)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilc, Jean-Michel 1960 births French jazz pianists French male pianists French male musicians Living people Mainstream jazz pianists Musicians from Paris Post-bop pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century French male musicians French male jazz musicians Motéma Music artists Storyville Records artists Sunnyside Records artists