Michel Petrucciani
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Michel Petrucciani (; ; 28 December 1962 – 6 January 1999) was a French
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 major ...
pianist. From birth he had
osteogenesis imperfecta Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may be mi ...
, a genetic disease that causes brittle bones and, in his case, short stature. He became one of the most accomplished jazz pianists of his generation despite his health condition and very short life span.


Biography


Early years

Michel Petrucciani came from an Italo-French family (his grandfather was from
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
) with a musical background. His father Tony played guitar, his brother Louis played bass, and his brother Philippe also plays the guitar. Michel was born with
osteogenesis imperfecta Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may be mi ...
, which is a genetic disease that causes brittle bones and, in his case, short stature. It is also often linked to pulmonary ailments. The disease caused his bones to fracture over 100 times before he reached adolescence and kept him in pain throughout his entire life. "I have pain all the time. I'm used to having hurt arms," he said. Hajdu, David
"Keys To the Kingdom."
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
, March 17, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
In Michel's early career, his father and brother occasionally carried him because he could not walk far on his own unaided. In certain respects he considered his disability an advantage, as he got rid of distractions like sports that other boys tended to become involved in. And he hints that his disability was helpful in other parts of his life. He said: "Sometimes I think someone upstairs saved me from being ordinary." At an early age, Michel saw
Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
on television and wished to become a pianist like him. When Michel was four, his father bought him a toy piano of his own, but Michel smashed the piano with a toy hammer. "When I was young, I thought the keyboard looked like teeth," he said. "It was as though it was laughing at me. You had to be strong enough to make the piano feel little. That took a lot of work." Soon after this, Michel's father bought him a real piano. From the beginning, Petrucciani had always been musical, reportedly humming
Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...
solos by the time he learned to speak. He began learning classical piano at the age of four, and was making music with his family by the age of nine. The musician who would prove most influential to Petrucciani was
Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...
, to whom he began listening at around the age of ten. Petrucciani's layered harmonies, lyrical style, and articulation of melody have always been linked most strongly to this early exposure to Evans.


Music career in Paris

Petrucciani gave his first professional concert at the age of 13. At this point of his life, he was still quite fragile and had to be carried to and from the piano. His hands were average in length, but his size meant that he required aids to reach the piano's pedals. Petrucciani felt he needed to travel to Paris to begin his musical career, but he found it difficult to leave home. His father was protective, constantly concerned for his son's well-being and reluctant to put him in any danger. Petrucciani's drummer
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 ...
said of Michel's father: " ewas an idiot. He didn't trust anybody. He wanted to keep Petrucciani as a partner, to play music with. He was very jealous. So I had to fight to take him to Paris, because his father didn't want me to, because he wanted to keep him, like you would cage a monster." Petrucciani made his first trip to Paris at the age of fifteen. There he played with
Kenny Clarke Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914January 26, 1985), nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-ha ...
in 1977 and
Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...
in 1978. His breakthrough performance occurred at the Cliousclat jazz festival. Terry was missing a pianist, and when Petrucciani was carried onto the stage, he thought it was a joke; Petrucciani was not more than three feet tall. But he astounded Terry and the rest of the festival with his prodigious talent and virtuosity. Terry said, "When I heard him play – oh, man! He was a dwarf, but he played like a giant. I said, 'listen, little guy – don't run away. I'll be back for you.'" Petrucciani's trip to Paris garnered mixed experiences but was undoubtedly musically and personally transforming. He reports, "It was mostly to do with drugs and weird women, but I was lucky and got out safe." His attitude during his time in France was largely immature and insecure, despite his considerable talent. He wore a yachtsman's cap and frequently acted pushy and tough, referring to people as 'baby'. "He knew how to say 'motherfucker' in French," said Michael Zwerin, who met Petrucciani when the pianist was fifteen. Petrucciani played in a trio with Kenny Clarke during his time in Paris and rose to stardom. After his stint in Paris, Petrucciani briefly returned to home before beginning his professional life. Living with his drummer, Romano, he was free of the protective presence of his father and began enjoying an independent lifestyle. Petrucciani began recording with Owl Records and struck up a friendship with the recording company's owner, Jean-Jacques Pussiau. Pussiau recalls that Petrucciani always seemed to be in a hurry to record, saying, "I don't want to lose time." Eventually however Petrucciani desired independence from Romano, too. Romano remembers: "He didn't feel free with me. So he had to kill his second father somehow to move on. He needed to escape. He needed to go very far, as far as he could go, and that was California." Petrucciani travelled to the U.S. after his trip to Paris, but it is not known whether he stopped in New York first. "Michel was really into bullshitting...he would lie to your face," said French journalist Thierry Peremarti. This calls into question his strange account of his time in Manhattan. He claimed to have scammed his way into the city on bad checks and hid out in Brooklyn with the help of Sicilian family connections. He also claimed to have played piano in a midtown brothel.


With Charles Lloyd in New York

What is known for certain is that he ended up in California in 1982, where he visited retired saxophonist Charles Lloyd. Lloyd had stopped playing when people began to view his sidemen as more fashionable than he himself was. After hearing Petrucciani play, Lloyd was so inspired that he agreed to tour with him. Lloyd said to him, "I was here planning to not play again. You triggered me. I heard this beauty in you and I said, 'well I have to take you 'round the world cause there's something so beautiful, it was like providence calling."documentary
at
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Petrucciani and Lloyd's tour of the
West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
was a huge success and they continued internationally. On 22 February 1985, with Petrucciani cradled in his arms, Lloyd walked onto the stage at
Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
in New York City and sat him on his piano stool for what would be a historic evening in jazz history: the filming of ''
One Night with Blue Note ''One Night with Blue Note'' is a 1985 feature length jazz film directed by John Jopson, John Charles Jopson. To celebrate record executive Bruce Lundvall having relaunched the defunct Blue Note Records label in 1985 under the parent label EMI Ma ...
''. The film's director John Charles Jopson would later recall in the reissued liner notes that the moment moved him to tears. Petrucciani and Lloyd's performance at the
Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...
was made into an album, and in 1982, they won the 1982 Prix d'Excellence. But Petrucciani expressed mostly disdain and frustration at the awards he felt were being heaped upon him, believing that he was receiving so many at least in part because people believed he was going to die young. Petrucciani moved to New York City in 1984 and spent the rest of his life there. This was the most productive period of his career. In 1986 he was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival with
Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davi ...
and Jim Hall, producing the trio album ''
Power of Three In mathematics, a power of three is a number of the form where is an integer – that is, the result of exponentiation with number three as the base and integer  as the exponent. Applications The powers of three give the place values in ...
''. He also played with diverse figures in the U.S. jazz scene including
Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
. But he made a priority of recording solo piano also. He said: "I really believe a pianist is not complete until he's capable of playing by himself. I started doing solo concerts in February 1993, when I asked my agent to cancel my trio dates for a year in order to play nothing but solo recitals… I had a wonderful time playing alone, and discovering the piano and really studying every night. I felt like I was learning so much about the instrument and about communicating directly with an audience. So it was an incredible experience. I really loved doing that, and afterwards getting on stage with a group again and playing with other people was a piece of cake!"


Personal life

He had five significant personal relationships: Erlinda Montano (marriage), Eugenia Morrison, Marie-Laure Roperch, the Italian pianist Gilda Buttà (the marriage lasted three months and ended in divorce) and Isabelle Mailé (with whom he shares his grave). With Marie-Laure he fathered a son, Alexandre, who inherited his condition. He also had a stepson named Rachid Roperch. In 1994, he was granted the Order of the
Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
in Paris. In the late 1990s, Petrucciani's lifestyle became increasingly taxing. He was performing over 100 times per year, and in 1998, the year before he died, he performed 140 times. He became too weak to use crutches and had to resort to a wheelchair. His final manager said, "He was working too much – not only recording and doing concerts, but he was always on television, and he was always doing interviews. He got himself overworked, and you could see it. He pushed too much." In his later years Petrucciani was known to drink heavily. Petrucciani died from a pulmonary infection a week after his 36th birthday. He was interred in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, one tomb away from
Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...
. On 12 February 2009, the French music channel Mezzo broadcast a special event paying homage to Petrucciani close to the 10th anniversary of his death. The first two American albums featuring Petrucciani were produced by Gabreal Franklin. The first, '' 100 Hearts'', a solo album, was produced at the famous RCA Studio A, on the
Avenue of the Americas Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
in New York City. The second was a trio album, recorded live at Max Gordon's old
Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz ...
club in New York City. These were among the first albums to use digital recording technology, on Mitsubishi X80 recorders, so early on that the only manuals available were in Japanese; but Franklin and Tom Arrison managed to get them to function by trial and error. In 1985 a concert at the
Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz ...
in New York was recorded on video.


Personality and musical style

Osteogenesis imperfecta Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may be mi ...
seemed to contribute greatly both to Petrucciani's personality and his playing style. By his own account, he was in almost constant physical pain. Yet, he was known for his cheerful, playful, even cavalier personality. He said, "I love humor; I love to laugh, I love jokes, I love silliness. I love that; I think it's great. I think laughter is worth a whole lot of medicine." Though he often exhibited arrogance and even womanizing tendencies in his adolescent years, the defining characteristic of Petrucciani was his confidence. Michael Zwerin recalled one example: "We were sitting there wondering what to play. It was kind of hot. And Michel said, 'anybody know "
Giant Steps ''Giant Steps'' is the fifth studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane as leader. It was released in February 1960 on Atlantic Records. This was his first album as leader for Atlantic Records, with which he had signed a new contract the previou ...
?" Neither Louis nor I wanted to admit we didn't really know it. So there was this great silence. And Michel said, "Well, I do!" and he pounded into a solo version of it at a very fast clip, and it was really amazing. That to me is Michel—'Well, I do!' Man, a confidence you wouldn't believe." Petrucciani also appeared to have a quirky side. In a Mezzo documentary, he can be heard saying in a humorous voice, "I am very short!" Pussiau, the owner of Owl Records, recalled when he used to carry Michel for convenience. "Sometimes, when I used to carry him, he would bite my ear. We'd walk into a restaurant, and he'd ''chomp''." During his last years in New York, it seemed Michel's general attitude of carelessness was magnified. He said to his manager, "I want to have at least five women at once, I want to make a million dollars in one night." In an interview, he said: "My handicap is not mortal. I won't die because of my handicap. It has nothing to do with that." He also said, "Eventually, when I get to be 75, I'll write a book on my deathbed." Yet other reliable sources assert that he was always aware of the potential effects of osteogenesis imperfecta. What is known for certain is that Petrucciani was fiercely determined to take all the joy and satisfaction from life that he could. "I'm a brat," he said. "My philosophy is to have a really good time and never let anything stop me from doing what I want to do. It's like driving a car, waiting for an accident. That's no way to drive a car. If you have an accident, you have an accident—''c'est la vie''." He certainly lived true to his maxim. Just one week before he died of a pulmonary infection, he was up all night celebrating the new year with his friends. Stylistically, Petrucciani is most frequently compared to
Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...
and
Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a ...
for his lyricism and
Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...
for his virtuosity. His playing was often quite dramatic; critics accuse him of over-indulgence and cheap showmanship, sometimes dismissing his music as being too accessible. Petrucciani was loose and playful in a rhythm section, and gave attention to a strong articulation of the melody. He sometimes paused at the peaks of his solo lines before descending again, as if in appreciation of his idea. Michel distinguished himself most obviously from his primary inspiration in that he lacked Bill Evans's cerebral approach to the piano. Petrucciani's interest was primarily in simply playing; he spent little time reharmonizing or arranging. "When I play, I play with my heart and my head and my spirit… I don't play to people's heads, but to their hearts." he says. The moments of musical clarity or bliss he describes come during his performances. "You know sometimes when I play a concert… and I have that right timing… those notes make me feel warm and good… it's like lovemaking, it's like having an orgasm." Yet despite his emphasis on performance, he disliked applause, calling it old-fashioned and a distraction. Michel's unbridled love of the piano in no way entailed artistic carelessness. Indeed, he described the piano as literally taking him to his grave. "It might lead me to death… meaning that I'd be on my deathbed saying, too bad I can't live another year, I would have been much better." He also complained about mistakes, saying, "…the pitfall is that when I make a mistake it sounds absolutely outrageous, really horrible because everything else is so clear!"
Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davi ...
summed up Michel Petrucciani's essential character and style in this quote: "There's a lot of people walking around, full-grown and so-called normal—they have everything that they were born with at the right leg length, arm length, and stuff like that. They're symmetrical in every way, but they live their lives like they are armless, legless, brainless, and they live their life with blame. I never heard Michel complain about anything. Michel didn't look in the mirror and complain about what he saw. Michel was a great musician—a great musician—and great, ultimately, because he was a great human being because he had the ability to feel and give to others of that feeling, and he gave to others through his music."


Discography


As leader

* ''Flash'' (Bingow, 1980) * ''Michel Petrucciani'' (Owl, 1981) * ''Date with Time'' (Celluloid, 1981) * '' Estate'' (IRD, 1982) * ''Darn that Dream'' (Celluloid, 1982) * ''
Toot Sweet ''Toot Sweet'' is a live album by saxophonist Lee Konitz and pianist Michel Petrucciani which was recorded in Paris in 1982 and released on the French Owl label. The album was rereleased on CD in the US on Sunnyside.Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz ...
(Owl, 1982) – live * ''Oracle's Destiny'' (Owl, 1983) – recorded in 1982 * '' 100 Hearts'' (Concord/The George Wein Collection, 1984) – recorded in 1983 * ''Note'n Notes'' (Owl, 1984) * '' Live at the Village Vanguard'' (Concord, 1985) – live recorded in 1984 * ''Cold Blues'' (Owl, 1985) * '' Pianism'' (
Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...
, 1986) – recorded in 1985 * ''
Power of Three In mathematics, a power of three is a number of the form where is an integer – that is, the result of exponentiation with number three as the base and integer  as the exponent. Applications The powers of three give the place values in ...
'' with
Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davi ...
and Jim Hall (Blue Note, 1987) – live recorded in 1986 * '' Michel plays Petrucciani'' (Blue Note, 1988) – recorded in 1987 * ''Music'' (Blue Note, 1989) * ''The Manhattan Project'' with
Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davi ...
,
Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...
,
Lenny White Leonard "Lenny" White III (born December 19, 1949) is an American jazz fusion drummer who was a member of the band Return to Forever led by Chick Corea in the 1970s. White has been called "one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion". He has won ...
,
Gil Goldstein Gil Goldstein (born November 6, 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American jazz pianist and accordionist. He has won 5 Grammy Awards and he was nominated 8 time Biography He began studying accordion at age 5 after noticing it in The Lawrence We ...
and Pete Levin (Blue Note, 1990) * ''
Playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...
'' (Blue Note, 1991) * ''Live'' (Blue Note, 1991) – live * ''Promenade with Duke'' (Blue Note, 1992) * ''Conversation'' with Tony Petrucciani (Dreyfus, 1992) * ''Marvellous'' (Dreyfus, 1994) * ''Conference De Presse'' with
Eddy Louiss Eddy Louiss (2 May 1941 – 30 June 2015) was a French jazz musician. Eddy started playing in his father Pierre's orchestra in the 1950s. Pierre changed the family name from Louise to Louiss. As a vocalist, he was a member of Les Double Six of ...
(Dreyfus, 1994) * ''Au Theatre Des Champs-Élysées'' (Dreyfus, 1994) – live * ''Flamingo'' with
Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the firs ...
(Dreyfus, 1996) – recorded in 1995 * ''Michel Petrucciani'' (Dreyfus, 1996) * ''Both Worlds'' (Dreyfus, 1997) * '' Solo Live in Germany'' (Dreyfus, 1998) – live recorded in 1997 Posthumous releases * ''Trio in Tokyo'' with
Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the ''Modern D ...
and Anthony Jackson (Dreyfus, 1999) – live recorded in 1997 * ''Conversations With Michel'' with
Bob Malach Bob Malach (born August 23, 1954) is an American jazz saxophonist. Malach learned several reed instruments in his youth, and played with Philadelphia soul bands such as The Stylistics and The O'Jays while still a teenager. He played in the big b ...
(Go Jazz, 2000) – recorded in 1988–89 * ''Dreyfus Night in Paris'' with
Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandros ...
,
Biréli Lagrène Biréli Lagrène (born 4 September 1966) is a French jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt–influenced style. He often performs in swing, jazz fusion, and post-bop styles. Biography Lagrène was born in ...
,
Kenny Garrett Kenny Garrett (born October 9, 1960) is an American post-bop jazz musician and composer who gained recognition in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and for his time with Miles Davis's band. His primary instruments are alto and ...
and
Lenny White Leonard "Lenny" White III (born December 19, 1949) is an American jazz fusion drummer who was a member of the band Return to Forever led by Chick Corea in the 1970s. White has been called "one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion". He has won ...
(Dreyfus, 2004) – live recorded in 1994 * '' Piano Solo - The Complete Concert In Germany'' (Dreyfus, 2007) – live recorded in 1997 * ''Michel Petrucciani & NHOP (Live)'' (Dreyfus, 2009) CD– live recorded in 1994 * ''Both Worlds Live North Sea Jazz Festival'' (Dreyfus, 2016) CD + DVD-Video– live at North Sea Jazz Festival plus bonus CD including live at
Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...
* ''One Night In Karlsruhe'' (Jazzhaus, 2019) – live recorded in 1988 * ''Solo in Denmark'' (Storyville Records, 2022) – live recorded on June 23, 1990, at the Silkeborg Riverboat Jazz Festival in Denmark


Compilation

* ''The Complete Recordings Of Michel Petrucciani: The Blue Note Years 1986-1994'' (Blue Note, 1998) * ''Concerts Inedits'' (Dreyfus, 1999) CD* ''Days of Wine and Roses: 1981-1985'' (Owl, 2000) CD* ''So What: Best of Michel Petrucciani'' (Dreyfus, 2004)


As sideman

With Steve Grossman * ''Quartet'' (Dreyfus Jazz, 1999) – recorded in 1998 With Charles Lloyd * ''
Montreux 82 ''Montreux 82'' is a live album by saxophonist Charles Lloyd recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982 and released on the Elektra/Musician label the following year.
'' (Elektra Musician, 1983) – live recorded in 1982 at
Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...
* ''
A Night in Copenhagen ''A Night in Copenhagen'' is a live album by jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd featuring a performance recorded in Copenhagen in 1983 by Lloyd with Michel Petrucciani, Palle Danielsson and Woody Theus with guest vocalist Bobby McFerrin.
'' (
Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...
, 1985) – live recorded in 1983 * '' One Night with Blue Note Volume 4'' (Blue Note, 1985) – live With
Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarin ...
* ''
From the Soul ''From the Soul'' is a 1992 jazz album by American saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano, generally regarded as his masterpiece. It was recorded with a studio band rather than Lovano's working group; it is notable for his only encounter with Michel P ...
'' (Blue Note, 1992) – recorded in 1991


Tributes

*A
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
of a piano by Édouard Detmer in his honor was included on the Place Michel-Petrucciani in the 18th district of Paris. *Michel recorded a piano solo on "Why Do You Do Things Like That?" on
Patrick Rondat Patrick Rondat (born 12 October 1960) is a French guitarist. He plays instrumental heavy metal associated with diverse influences such as new-age music, progressive metal, classical music and jazz. He has collaborated on various projects with ...
's '' On the Edge'', which was released the same year as Petrucciani's death. Patrick Rondat dedicated this album to him. *"Waltz For Michel Petrucciani", a song on the Finnish jazz
Trio Töykeät Trio Töykeät (founded in 1988) was a Finnish jazz trio. Their music ranges from humorous ragtimes to sentimental waltzes. Their playing style is often rhythmic, energetic and virtuosic. The group disbanded in 2008 Members * Iiro Rantala – pi ...
's album ''Kudos'', is dedicated to him. * Christian Jacob's album ''Contradictions'' does his interpretation of eleven of Petrucciani's compositions as a kind of tribute. *"Simply Marvellous (Celebrating the Music of Michel Petrucciani)" is a Jazz album released in 2012 by Tommaso Starace featuring nine of Petrucciani's most celebrated compositions. *"To Mike P.", a composition of the Italian jazz pianist Nico Marziliano, is dedicated to him.


See also

*
French jazz Jazz music has been popular in France since the 1920s. Its international popularity peaked in the 1930s, and it has been continually enjoyed since. History Following World War I, a number of American expatriates settled in Paris and began to bu ...


References


Further reading

''Michel Petrucciani'' (2011) by pianist and musicologist Benjamin Halay by Editions Didier Carpentier (prefaced by Didier Lockwood and Alexandre Petrucciani).


External links

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Michel Petrucciani
at the
National Jazz Archive The National Jazz Archive is a collection of materials pertaining to jazz and blues that is kept at the Loughton Library in Essex, England. The archive was founded by British trumpeter Digby Fairweather in 1998 and contains visual and print mater ...

Michel Petrucciani
interview in Jazz Magazine (in French)
Michel Petrucciani
documentary "Mezzo", with interviews, on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrucciani, Michel 1962 births 1999 deaths People from Orange, Vaucluse Entertainers with dwarfism French jazz pianists French male pianists French people of Italian descent Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery People with osteogenesis imperfecta 20th-century pianists 20th-century French musicians 20th-century French male musicians French male jazz musicians