Michel Petrucciani (; ; 28 December 1962 – 6 January 1999)

Biography

Early years

Michel Petrucciani's family had Neapolitan heritage and lived in Montélimar, France, in the south of France. They were a musical family; his father, Tony, and his brother Philippe both played guitar, while his brother Louis played bass. Petrucciani was born in nearby Orange, Vaucluse having osteogenesis imperfecta, 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 gave him pain throughout his entire life. 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 it got rid of distractions like sports that other boys tended to become involved in.

From the beginning, Petrucciani had always been musical, reportedly humming Wes Montgomery 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, who he started listening to at around age ten. Petrucciani's layered harmonies, lyrical style, and articulation of melody would always be linked most strongly to his early exposure to Evans.

Music career in Paris

Petrucciani gave his first professional concert at the age of 13. At this age he was 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 move to Paris to begin his musical career, but found it difficult to leave home. His father was protective and constantly concerned for his son's well-being, hoping to protect him from danger. Petrucciani's drummer Aldo Romano took a less charitable view, thinking that Michel's father was jealous and just wanted to keep Petrucciani at home to serve as his own musical partner. After some difficulty, Romano prevailed and took Petrucciani—at age fifteen—to Paris for the first time. Petrucciani and Lloyd's tour of the West Coast of the United States 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 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.

Petrucciani and Lloyd's performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was made into an album, and in 1982, they won the 1982 Prix d'Excellence. He also played with diverse figures in the U.S. jazz scene including Dizzy Gillespie.

Throughout his career, Petrucciani also made a priority of recording solo piano:

Personal life

Petrucciani 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 genetic disorder. He also had a stepson named Rachid Roperch.

In 1994, he was granted the Order of the Légion d'honneur in Paris.

In the late 1990s, Petrucciani's lifestyle became increasingly taxing. He was overworked, 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. He was also recording, doing television appearances, and constantly doing interviews. In his later years Petrucciani was known to drink heavily.

Personality and musical style

Osteogenesis imperfecta seemed to contribute greatly both to Petrucciani's personality and his playing style. By his own account, he was in almost constant physical pain.

As a member

The Manhattan Project<br/>(With Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Gil Goldstein and Pete Levin)

  • The Manhattan Project (Blue Note, 1990) – rec. 1989

As sideman

With Charles Lloyd

  • Montreux 82 (Elektra Musician, 1983) – live rec. 1982 at Montreux Jazz Festival
  • A Night in Copenhagen (Blue Note, 1985) – live rec. 1983
  • One Night with Blue Note (Blue Note, 1985) Volume 4 – live

With others

  • Steve Grossman, Quartet (Dreyfus Jazz, 1999) – rec. 1998
  • Joe Lovano, From the Soul (Blue Note, 1992) – rec. 1991
  • Serge Forté, Thanks for All (Ella Productions, 2004) - rec. 1997

Tributes

  • A mosaic of a piano by Édouard Detmer in his honor was included on the Place Michel-Petrucciani in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.
  • Michel recorded a piano solo on "Why Do You Do Things Like That?" on Patrick Rondat'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's album Kudos, is dedicated to him.
  • Christian Jacob's Contradictions is a tribue album containing imaginative reinterpretions of eleven Petrucciani compositions.
  • "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 by the Italian jazz pianist Nico Marziliano, is dedicated to him.

See also

  • French jazz

References

Further reading

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

  • Michel Petrucciani at the National Jazz Archive
  • Michel Petrucciani interview in Jazz Magazine (in French)
  • Michel Petrucciani documentary "Mezzo", with interviews, on YouTube