Both Worlds

I bought this album in 1998, one month after attending Petrucciani's concert in Coutances (For the French Festival "Jazz sous les pommiers"). When first playing this CD, the room was instantly filled with the magic feeling of the concert. Outstanding tracks are: "Brazilian like" and "On the top of the roof" (great moment when Flavio Boltro and Bob Brookmeyer are playing right after Petrucciani's performance, it sounds as if they are carrying him !). "Guadeloupe" is also a very relaxing track. The piano seems to fly over the sea.

Michel Petrucciani In Japan

Today, I would like to talk about something I recently discovered and which really astonished me. While looking for information about Michel Petrucciani, I came accross several japanese websites dedicated to the french jazzman.

The most outstanding one is Poisson's website. This site contains a very large set of references to albums, movies and books. Poisson owns an impresive number of Petrucciani's discs ! This drives me to think that the jazzman used to be a famous pianist in Japan.

If we have a look at the public recordings and at the studio recording sessions, then we can notice that only one concert was recorded in the archipelago. Indeed, Michel Petrucciani, Anthony Jackson and Steve Gadd played together in November 1997 in Tokyo. The CD "Trio In Tokyo" is distributed in France by Sony Music France and is produced by Francis Dreyfus (Dreyfus Jazz label).

I bought this album in 2000 and listened to it just on my PC after lunch in my office when I used to work for Bull CP8. I must admit this was rather hard not to listen to the entire album (I only had 5 minutes to scan one or two songs). "September Second" (track #2) is a particularly fascinating song with an omnipresent piano sound right from the beginning. The concerd ends with a very slow "So What".

I wish a Japanese could tell me what the kanji ideogram on the front cover means.

Well, surfing the Internet may lead you to some very interesting and valuable discoverings. While typing this post, I am currently listenning to "Song For Michel", a composition from Mrs Shoko Yamagishi. Mrs Yamagishi and her husband, Takashi Yamagishi are japanese jazzwomen and jazzmen.

In my next post, I will talk about their albums.

Do not hesitate to send me your comments !

Franz

Charlie Parker sur TSF Jazz

Au mois de Mars, TSF Jazz (radio de la bande FM qui émet sur Paris) fête le cinquantième anniversaire de la disparition de "Bird".

Saxophoniste compositeur, Charlie Parker est mort le 12 mars 1955 après avoir apporté une contribution significative à la vague "Be-Bop" du Jazz. Il joua notamment avec Dizzy Gillespie.

Parmi les compositions de Parker, on peut retenir:

• Now's The Time
• Mohawk
• Kim
• An Oscar For Treadwell
• Leap Frog

Les CDs que je recommande pour découvrir cet artiste sont les suivants:

• "Bird, the original recordings of Charlie Parker", Verve Records.
• "Bird and Dizz", Verve records.

Le premier CD contient une belle interprétation de "April in Paris". Vous trouverez également sur ces disques plusieurs morceaux où Parker joue avec Thelonious Monk.

Le film "Bird" de Clint Eastwood est un film biographique sur la vie de Charlie Parker avec Forest Whitaker. A voir.

TSF Jazz (http://www.tsfjazz.com/) émet sur 89.9 Mhz. Elle peut également être écoutée sur Internet pour ceux qui ont la chance d'habiter ailleurs qu'en région parisienne.

Incredibe Steve Gadd

What were you doing on 1981, September, 19th ?

Personaly, I was 8 and I was not in NYC, Central Park. I wish I could have been. Steve Gadd played this evening with famous duo Simon And Garfunkel for the anniversary concert in the Big Apple. When the first pictures and sounds of the event arrived in France, this was really the very first time I had heard the incredible sound of drummer Steve Gadd.

Listen to him playing solo on "Fifteen Ways To Leave Your Lover"...

Seventeen years later, in Coutances, a small town located in Normandy, I had the opportunity of listenning to him again (in live this time) during Jazz Festival named "Jazz sous les pommiers" (Jazz under the appletrees).

Instead of playing rock style drums, Gadd played this evening with piano genius Michel Petrucciani for a two-hour unforgettable concert.

Eddy Louiss And Maurice Vander New Album

Last week, I came accross a new jazz album named "Ô Toulouse".

Four french artists (Eddy Louiss, Maurice Vander, Bernard Lubat and Luigi Trussardi) are playing several oustanding interpretations of Nougaro's favorite songs. This album is a kind of tribute to the french poet who died last year.

Of course, most of the compositions come from jazz legends such as Thelonious Monk or Dave Brubeck. Neverteless, the album includes several compositions from Eddy Louiss and Maurice Vander.

Maurice Vander used to be Nougaro's pianist.

Eddy Louiss is an organist I discovered in the 80's by listenning to Grappelli's "Satin Doll" album.

Have a look at the following URL: http://www.jazzgrenoble.com/contenu/concerts2005/14toulouse.htm

The album is on sale at La Fnac and Virgin Megastore. I do not know if it is on sale abroad.

And remember: do not copy music !

Harry Bosch

I finished reading two days ago my first book from Michael Connelly. It is a novel with detective Harry Bosch. A very dark story: City Of Bones.

In the novel, Harry Bosch often listens to Jazz music.

I read today on Connelly's website that a compilation of songs Harry Bosch is used to listenning to was released in 2003. This jazz CD was given away on Michael's April 2003 book tour and is not available anymore.

There are some interesting stuffs on it: http://michaelconnelly.com/CD/SongList/songlist.html

I intend to buy the first book of Bosh serie, The Black Echo.

See you for my comments on this book.

Franz

Interesting photographs

What were you doing on May of 1977 ?

From my side, I was four and I cannot remember what I was doing. I did not even know neither how to write nor how to read. And, I had probably never seen a computer.

I came across today on these pictures: http://www.kelleyad.com/limited.htm

Have a look a them and think of yourself the following questions:

1 - Who could imagine 28 years ago that what Jobs is demonstrating would become a common device widely used at home for many tasks ?

2 - According to you, could the photographer expect that such a small company could become as famous as Coca Cola ?

3 - Such a demo task required probably more faith than patience.