VIDEO: Check out JMP's New Trio, featuring Thomas Bramerie on bass, and Mark Mondesir on drums, live in Vienne on June 29, 2005 © CLC Productions, Jazz a Vienne 2005
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Albums Live at Iridium, New York "An intense recording." All Music Guide "Exhilarating." The Guardian, UK - CD of the week
Follow Me "Jean-Michel Pilc is a trip. No jazz pianist today offers anything like his mélange of monster chops, wildly impulsive imagination, addiction to bombastic melodrama and shameless love of showing off." Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes "While never dry or abstract, Pilc is a model for playing a little to say a lot." Mark Keresman, Jazziz ""Follow Me" stands a major summation of Pilc's keyboard art, which has no counterparts. Pilc ranks among today's titans of the instrument... there's more to his art than the speed, precision and power of his 10 phenomenal fingers." Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune "New facets within it reveal themselves with each hearing. Highly recommended." Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Cardinal Points "should be studied in every music school in the galaxy..." Harvey Siders,
Jazz Times + "...ridiculously well-balanced, and trading in the kind of grace that still has the power to shake a room. Keith Jarrett found something similar... Pilc's nudging it a bit further down the line" Down Beat, four Star Hot Box review "Pilc's playing reveals a roaring fire that all but consumes the cosmopolitan sheen stereotypical of European music." Neil Tesser, Chicago Reader
Welcome
Home "Pilc, a pianist of razzle-dazzle technique, has been playing around town for years, but his music has never been brought into focus as impressively as on his new CD, Welcome Home (Dreyfus), recorded in Paris with drummer Ari Hoenig and the remarkable bassist, François Moutin, who played in New York last year with Martial Solal. Solal's own extravagantly witty and unexpected improvisational gambits may be seen as a precedent for Pilc's, which is saying a lot." Gary Giddins , Village Voice “On his first disc for the Dreyfus label, Jean-Michel Pilc keeps his regular trio intact and continues to work maniacal wonders, mostly with standards. Beginning with a fast and playful "So What," Pilc, bassist Francois Moutin, and drummer Ari Hoenig toss the familiar figure back and forth, stretching it wildly while preserving the integrity of the form. Duke Ellington and John Coltrane each get a double nod, the former with sparse yet off-kilter readings of "I Got It Bad" and "Solitude," the latter with short, back-to-back deconstructions of "Cousin Mary" and "Giant Steps." And Monk, one of Pilc's main influences, is represented with "Rhythm-a-Ning," featuring spirited trading between Pilc and Moutin and a meltdown of an ending. The trio locates wonderful new secrets in the harmonic folds of "Stella by Starlight," "Tenderly," and even Simon Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair." Pilc’s four originals resound with conceptual daring, particularly the frenetic "Colchiques Dans Les Prés" and the churning, funky "Serial Mother Blues." A strong statement from a trio that continues to defy classification.” David R. Adler, All Music Guide
Together "Been listening to tapes of the pianist's recent live dates, and they're killing…He's one of our top young piano voices…Listen to what the pianist does to the opening of Bessie's Blues on volume two of Live at Sweet Basil. Refraction, substraction, big action. Pilc's bands are becoming synonymous with interplay. And the leader's a quick-change artist - that cluster in the air is now a single note, decaying quite regally donchaknow." Jim Macnie, Village Voice
Together "Those who experience this phenomenal trio had better be prepared for an exhaustive exercise in deep listening, for Pilc is a pillar of intensity. He utilizes broad ranging adaptations and re-invention of standards, with a wellspring of ideas that tumble out like a rushing waterfall or roaring tornado. This 73 minutes of music is at once stunning, dumbfoundling, compelling and brilliant beyond description." Michael Nastos, All Music Guide "A fantastic new CD. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to apprehend the genius of Pilc's music. Pilc & Co.'s courageous approach to playing jazz in the moment, plus the enormous talent this focus on improvisational interpretation brings to light, make his last CD a deeply satisfying recording that marks a triumphant turning point in his career. To quote Pilc's own words, this trio is 'the dream of a lifetime come true.'" Blaine Fallis, about.com "...make no mistake about it, to his credit, Mr. Pilc is very unique... I would say that this trio starts at Mars, and then goes from there. Don't expect anything resembling conventional interpretations. This is fascinating and rewarding music...The level of empathy and sensitivity in this group is also stunning. They can stop or shift gears on a dime... For anyone interested in creative and visceral music, this album is an important find. I eagerly await vol. 2" Rick Helzer, Jazz Improv "Pilc stands ready to break out of the box and allow the immensity of his talent to be recognized... Pilc's talent is such that it leaves the listeners agog and the critics wordless... From the critics' quotes I've read, they're struggling to describe the physicality of his approach and the unpredictability of his performances... "Live At Sweet Basil, Vol. 1" is in a class unto itself, stunning the listener to attention. Like other writers, I'm glad to have heard Jean-Michel Pilc at a relatively early stage in his career before the inevitable buzz surrounds him." Don Williamson, All About Jazz SELECTIVE
DISCOGRAPHY Jean-Michel Pilc: Follow Me Jean-Michel
Pilc: Cardinal Points Jean-Michel
Pilc Trio: Welcome Home Jean-Michel
Pilc Trio: Together Jean-Michel
Pilc: Big One Jean-Michel
Pilc Trio: Funambule As a sideman or co-leader: Rosario Giuliani: More than ever Elisabeth Kontomanou: Midnight Sun Rick Margitza: Rue des Voleurs Ari Hoenig:
The Painter Jean-Michel Pilc / Hein Van De Geyn Duo: Sam Newsome
and Global Unity Elisabeth
Kontomanou: Hands and Incantation Richard Bona: Scenes from My Life Elisabeth
Kontomanou: Embrace J.D. Walter: Sirens in the C-House Jean Toussaint: Life I Want Aldo Romano: Prosodie Andre Ceccarelli: From The Heart Elisabeth
Kontomanou Martial
Solal/Eric Le Lann: |
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