Jazz Articles about Jean-Michel Pilc

About Jean-Michel Pilc

Album Review

Galician composer and saxophonist Xose Miguelez has established himself as a mainstay of the international jazz scene. His superb second release as leader, Contradictio, showcases his talents to the full. A taut quartet session, it consists of inventive originals and clever arrangements of standards. Well- versed in bop and his own ethnic music, Miguelez excitingly fuses both traditions. The warm, tense opener “Meniña" starts with bassist Carlos Barretto's dramatic refrains. Once the ensemble launches into the main theme ...

Album Review

JD Walter: Dressed in a Song

Read "Dressed in a Song" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
February 28, 2020

JD Walter is a consummate vocalist who has devoted himself over many years to evolving a unique style that is nevertheless ensconced in the jazz tradition. The public relations sheet for this new CD states that “this is his first release since recovering from a life-threatening heart condition and surgeries on his heart and vocal cords." It states that this is a “comeback" record. That is a misnomer. In this recording, he takes the music to new levels of structure, ...

Album Review

Jean-Michel Pilc: What Is This Thing Called?

Read "What Is This Thing Called?" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo

by Maurizio Zerbo
August 31, 2015

Pochi altri pianisti jazz riescono come Jean-Michel Pilc ad unire vibrante espressività, magistero tecnico e volatile progettualità. Lo dimostra questo CD imperniato sulla variazione/destrutturazione del celebre standard “What Is This Called Love." Il tema di Cole Porter diventa così il pretesto per una rigogliosa cavalcata in solitudine, tra le mille pieghe del pianoforte jazz e non. I trenta bozzetti musicali proposti rivelano una mente aperta nello sciorinare con souplesse interpretativa un pensiero pianistico trasversale che tocca vari ...

Album Review

Jean-Michel Pilc, Marilyn Mazur, Mads Vinding: Composing

Read "Composing" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
June 27, 2015

A magical mystery tour with two heavies of the avant garde and one good old reliable jazz bassist who fits in anywhere. To be more precise: American/Danish percussionist Marilyn Mazur, she of the frizzy hair and intense eyes; French pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, he of the goatee beard and dark, moody gaze; and Denmark's Mads Vinding, he whose eyes and beard (or lack of one) fit in anywhere. Lurking in the wings, are two muses. First there's Wayne ...

Album Review

Jean-Michel Pilc: What Is This Thing Called?

Read "What Is This Thing Called?" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
March 18, 2015

Pianist Jean-Michel Pilc has produced an extraordinary musical document with the release of What Is This Thing Called?. Superficially, the CD is a set of improvisations on Cole Porter's tune “What Is This Thing Called Love?," and it can be listened to in that manner. However, it is really an invitation into Pilc's sound world, his musical mind and his emotional being, and as such, it is very intimate. Accepting the invitation makes for a thrilling and intense ...

Film Review

Profound Pianistic Presentations: Jazz Heaven DVDs from Jean-Michel Pilc and Enrico Pieranunzi

by Dan Bilawsky
February 22, 2015

There's more to music than the simple absorption and understanding of notes, rhythm, melody, and harmony; there's more to jazz than what naturally meets the eyes and ears; and, most daunting of all, there's more to learn than we can ever possibly imagine. But fear not, for there are resources out there to help aspiring musicians in their quest for a deeper understanding of music. Jazz Heaven has been tapping into some of the finest jazz player-educators ...

Album Review

Jean-Michel Pilc: What Is This Thing Called?

Read "What Is This Thing Called?" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 23, 2015

Jean-Michel Pilc's solo piano recording What Is This Thing Called? might have been titled “Thirty-one Conversations About One Thing." That 'one thing' being his 31 variations on Cole Porter's composition “What Is This Thing Called Love." Why record 31 versions of one song? Maybe ask yourself why Claude Monet created so many paintings of the same haystacks. Pilc, the Paris born, New York based pianist heads up an octet, a few trios, including one with Victor Lewis & ...