Jacky Terrasson On Piano Jazz

Jacky Terrasson On Piano Jazz https://t.co/njD5nmYsYE

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CD REVIEW: Jacky Terrasson- Take this!!!

Jacky Terrasson- Take this!!!

(Impulse. CD review by Mike Collins)

It’s hard not to hear a hint of mischief, or at least gleeful rib-poking, in recent Jacky Terrasson releases and Take This, his new album on the re-activated Impulse! label is no exception. 

A handful of Terrasson originals are laced through a typically eclectic mix of covers ranging from recent pop hits (Gotye’s Somebody that I used to Know), The Beatles (Come Together), jazz staples (Un Poco Loco, Blue in Green and two takes of Take 5) and a French 50’s hit (Maladie d’amour). The vintage or history of a tune is no guide to its likely treatment and a pot pourri of Afro – Caribbean or Latin grooves, hip-hop or blistering bop is deployed to re-invent them, not infrequently all within one arrangement. There’s a fair bit of beat boxing too either from the leader himself or vocalist Sly Johnson.

A consistent thread is of African and Cuban rhythms, driven by the drumming of Lukmil Perez and Malian percussionist Adama Diarra buoying Terrasson’s unfailingly exuberant playing. Bud Powell’s Un Poco Loco is taken at a blistering tempo with a samba groove. Take 5 take 1 is an extended joust between rousing percussion and piano before dissolving into a liquidly propulsive swing. An original, Dance, is a duo take between piano and percussion that does what is says on the tin with a bravura workout on a simple calypso like melody. Another original, November stays with the Caribbean vibe, a breezy attractive melody giving a platform for the pianist’s spiralling, divergent lyricism.

Other moods flavour the carnival atmosphere. Take 5 take 2 is taken at chill out speed, Burniss Travis’ bass sometimes hinting at dub and Sly Johnson’s vocal sketching fragments of the melody, weaving around the squawking Rhodes. A gorgeous, more or less straight reading of Blue in Green is at an achingly slow tempo worthy of Shirley Horn and reminds us that Jacky Terrasson has a sublime sense of space. His band work with him to let it swell and draw the listener in. It’s a trick they repeat on Letting Go, the hymn like original that ends the set, a simple melody repeated and tastefully decorated by this time, a quietly bubbling Fender Rhodes.

Read more: http://news360.com/digestarticle/-CJsULVN-U6fhhrrlkiwUA

"Smile" - Jacky Terrasson Live at KPLU

Uploaded on Jan 18, 2011
Pianist Jacky Terrasson brought his trio, consisting of bassist Ben Williams and drummer Jamire Williams, to the KPLU Studios on January 18, 2011. After several amazing songs and an interview with KPLU jazz host, Abe Beeson, the trio finished their session with this rendition of the classic, Charlie Chaplin's "Smile." Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FKQI7yuQ8U&list=TLV_zTLZUe1u4&index=10

Piano Jazz Summit....

Starring Cedar Walton, Jacky Terrasson and Hiromi

Three generations of solo virtuoso jazz pianists in one unique concert event!

Cedar Walton is a hard pop jazz pianist and one of the most universally respected jazz pianists active today. His most recent honor was to be named the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master for 2010.

Jacky Terrasson, winner of the distinctive Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition and two time Grammy nominee, was acclaimed by The New York Times Magazine as “one of 30 artists under the age of 30 most likely to make an impact on American culture in the next 30 years.”

Since her 2003 Telarc debut, Another Mind, keyboardist-composer Hiromi Uehara has electrified audiences and critics on both hemispheres with a creative energy that defies the conventional parameters of jazz and pushes musicianship and composition to unprecedented levels of complexity and sophistication.