TRACK LISTING
1. J&G
2. Caravan
3. Someday My Prince Will Come
4. Take the A Train
5. Waltz No 3 In A Minor / Three Four Two
6. Essential
8. Etude-Tableau No. 1
9. Etude-Tableau No. 2
10. Etude-Tableau No. 3
11. Etude-Tableau No. 4
12. Etude-Tableau No. 5
13. Etude-Tableau No. 6
14. I Remember You
15. Scarborough Fair
16. Sam
17. Blue in Green
18. Mack The Knife
RELEASE INFORMATION
"What I'm in search of is exceptions," jazz pianist Jean-Michel Pilc explains. His new live concert recording, Essential, due out May 10, 2011 on Motéma Music, intimately captures an exceptional series of improvisations on both brand-new and classic themes. While there are dazzling passages here that demand Pilc's formidable technique, there's also a striking simplicity, directness and an irrepressible passion. Blending vividly lyrical passages with otherworldly, reflective interludes, unexpected dissonances and playful digressions, it's a vivid display of the individuality that American audiences have come to expect since his arrival in New York in 1995. Of this recording, "It represents who I was that night," Pilc explains. "What I do is pure improvisation. Sometimes you play a concert and you don't feel like it's natural - this concert had the feeling that I have at home playing the piano, completely relaxed. This particular night, there was nothing of that 'live performance thing,' having to convince people, and squeeze things in. This was music being made for the sake of music. Everything here is improvised except for one of the Etude-Tableaux, and that's based on something I came up with a few days before - an improvisation on an improvisation!" The CD version of this album, only his second solo recording, features not only live concert material but also a video of a special private performance during the two-night stand where the material here was performed.