BMG and The Montreux Jazz Festival release Michel Petrucciani: The Montreux Years – out now.
The brand-new release in The Montreux Years series is a collection of Michel Petrucciani’s most memorable performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival from 1990 – 1998. Beautifully restored and mastered, Michel Petrucciani: The Montreux Years is available in multi-format configurations including superior audiophile heavyweight vinyl, MQA quality CD and HD digital.
Born in the South of France in 1962, Michel Petrucciani was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta – or “glass bone disease” and only ever grew to 99cm. Despite his health condition, Petrucciani went on to become one of the most accomplished jazz pianists of his generation and became a musical prodigy.
At the age of 13, Petrucciani gave his first professional concert performance at the Cliousclat festival in which he joined American jazzman Clark Terry onstage when he was down a pianist. In 1981, his first appearance at the Paris Jazz Festival left the audience at the Théâtre de la Ville in shock, a new star of the piano was born.
The following year, Michel decides to leave, by challenge, to the conquest of America. He crossed the seas and landed in New York. A friend gives him the address of a musician living on the west coast. After a fortnight, he found himself in California in Charles Lloyd’s retreat without knowing what a great saxophonist he was and that he had discovered, in the 1960s, a young pianist named Keith Jarrett. In the 80s Petrucciani became the first European artist to sign with the American jazz label Blue Note Records, the most prolific, influential, and respected jazz label of the 20th century.
The French boy wonder of jazz piano has collaborated with some of jazz’s most celebrated performers including Wayne Shorter, Roy Haynes, Jim Hall, John Abercrombie and Jack DeJohnette. Petrucciani was awarded the prestigious Prix Django Reinhardt in 1984 and during the same year his album ‘100 Hearts’ won a Grand Prix Du Disque, the French equivalent of a Grammy Award. In 1994 Petrucciani was made a knight by François Mitterrand, the French president at the time.
A collection of Petrucciani’s most memorable performances at The Montreux Jazz Festival from 1990 – 1998, fans of the legendary jazz pianist can relive some of his biggest recordings on Michel Petrucciani: The Montreux Years. Encapsulating his time at the festival, the release opens with 1997’s “35 Seconds of Music and More” and “Estate” from the 1982 album of the same name. Delving further into Petrucciani’s repertoire, Michel Petrucciani: The Montreux Years includes the 1991 hit “Rachid” and “Little Peace in C for U”.
Launched in 2021, ‘The Montreux Years’ is the embodiment of the spirit of the Montreux Jazz Festival and the legacy of its much-loved founder, Claude Nobs. Nobs refused to compromise on quality or settle for anything other than the best and this ethos lives on in the superb quality of the recordings compiled in ‘The Montreux Years’. Mastering has been performed by Tony Cousins at London’s iconic Metropolis Studios, incorporating MQA to capture the original sound of the special live performances.
Out now, having been released on Friday 07 April, Michel Petrucciani: The Montreux Years is the ninth instalment of The Montreux Years series, which began with musical titans Nina Simone and Etta James, followed by Marianne Faithfull and Muddy Waters, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Monty Alexander and Paco De Lucía. Having received critical acclaim worldwide, ‘Nina Simone: The Montreux Years’ and ‘John McLaughlin: The Montreux Years’, reached #1 on the UK Official Jazz & Blues Chart in 2021 and were hailed by the likes of the New York Times and JazzFM.
