Michel Petrucciani

Michel Petrucciani
Background information
Birth name	Michel Petrucciani
Born	28 December 1962(1962-12-28) Orange, Vaucluse, France
Origin	Orange, Vaucluse, France
Died	6 January 1999(1999-01-06) (aged 36) New York City, USA
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1975–99

Michel Petrucciani (28 December 1962, Orange, Vaucluse, France – 6 January 1999, New York City, USA) was a French jazz pianist.

Biography

Michel Petrucciani came from an Italo-French family with a musical background. His father Tony played guitar, his brother Louis played bass and his last brother Philippe plays guitar too. Michel was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, which is a genetic disease that causes brittle bones and in his case short stature. It is also often linked to pulmonary ailments. In his early career his father and brother occasionally carried him, literally, because he could not walk far on his own unaided. In certain respects though he considered it an advantage as he got rid of distractions, like sports, that other boys tended to become involved in.^[1]

At an early age he became an enthusiast of Duke Ellington and wished to become a pianist like him. Although he trained for years as a classical pianist, jazz remained his main interest. He 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 size meant that he required aids to reach the piano's pedals, but his hands were average in length. This had its advantages, however: at the beginning of his career Petrucciani's manager would often smuggle him into hotel rooms in a suitcase in a bid to save money. By the age of 18 he was part of a successful trio. He moved to the US in 1982, where he successfully encouraged Charles Lloyd to resume playing actively. On 22 February 1985, with Petrucciani cradled in his arms, Lloyd walked onto the stage at Town Hall in New York City and sat him on his piano stool for what would be an historic evening in jazz history: the filming of One Night with Blue Note. The film's director John Charles Jopson would later recall in the reissued liner notes that the moment moved him to tears. In 1986 Petrucciani recorded a live album with Wayne Shorter and Jim Hall. He also played with diverse figures in the US jazz scene including Dizzy Gillespie.^[2]

In 1994 he was granted a Légion d'honneur in Paris.

His own style was initially influenced by Bill Evans although some compare him to Keith Jarrett.

On the personal side he had five significant relationships: Erlinda Montano (marriage), Eugenia, 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.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Michel Petrucciani died just after his 36th birthday from a pulmonary infection. He was interred in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

On 12 February 2009 the French music channel Mezzo broadcast a special event paying homage to Petrucciani ten years after his death.

The first two American albums featuring Michel 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 in New York City. The second was a trio album, recorded live at Max Gordon's old Village Vanguard club in New York City. These were among the first albums to use newly developed 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, and produced excellent results.

Discography

Michel Petrucciani's tomb

• Flash (1980)
• Michel Petrucciani Trio (1981)
• Date with Time (1981)
• Michel Petrucciani (1981)
• Estate (1982)
• Oracle's Destiny (1982)
• Toot Sweet (1982)
• 100 Hearts (1983)
• Live at the Village Vanguard (1984)
• Note'n Notes (1984)
• Cold Blues (1985)
• Pianism (1985)
• Power of Three (1986) with Wayne Shorter and Jim Hall
• Michel plays Petrucciani (1987)
• Music (1989)
• The Manhattan Project (1990) with Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Gil Goldstein and Pete Levin
• Playground (1991)
• Live (1991)
• From the Soul (1991) on Dec 28, 1991 with Joe Lovano
• Promenade with Duke (1993)
• The Blue Note Years (1993)
• Marvellous (1994)
• Conference De Presse (with Eddy Louiss) (1994)
• Au Theatre Des Champs-Élysées (1994)
• Darn that Dream (1996)
• Flamingo (with Stéphane Grappelli) (1996)
• Both Worlds (1998)
• Live in Germany (1998) and Trio in Tokyo (1999) (with Steve Gadd and Anthony Jackson, recorded in 1997)
• Solo Live (1999)
• Bob Malach & Michel Petrucciani (2000)
• Concerts Inedits/Live (2000)
• Conversation (2001) with Tony Petrucciani

Biography

First biography : "Michel Petrucciani" (2011) by pianist and musicologist Benjamin Halay by Editions Didier Carpentier (prefaced by Didier Lockwood and Alexandre Petrucciani).

Tributes

• A mosaic by Édouard Detmer in honor of Michel Petrucciani has been in the 18th district of Paris since July 2003.

• "Waltz For Michel Petrucciani", a song on the Finnish jazz Trio Töykeät'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.^[6]

References

External links

• A Tribute to Michel Petrucciani
• Artist site
• Interview (In French)
• "Mezzo" documentary on Petrucciani with interview
• Photos of Michel Petrucciani's grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery
• Photo of Petrucciani at Find a Grave
• Michel Petrucciani profile at Jazz Professional