A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH JACKY TERRASSON


Since I am not a fan of piano trios, it gives me great pleasure to say there are exceptions to the rule among us. Jason Moran and Jacky Terrasson are two that define the piano book for my generation. Terrasson has drawn comparisons. Keith Jarrett, I've heard, and he gets McCoy Tyner a good deal and Bud Powell sometimes, but Terrasson, to me anyway, has a voice all his own. His rendition of "For Sentimental Reasons" on Reach (Blue Note), Ravel's "Bolero" from What It Is, and his entire A Paris… session is proof positive. With a new record soon to be on store shelves, I sat down with Terrasson and he spoke about his journey, the new release, and his love of Paris in the springtime (well, anytime), as always, unedited and in his own words.


FRED JUNG: Let's start from the beginning.

JACKY TERRASSON: I would say, to be honest, it was imposed on my when I was four years old. There was always a piano at home and my parents kind of said, "OK, you're going to take piano lessons." I really started liking it around the age of twelve. I didn't really like any particular style of music back then, I just liked the instrument, the piano. I used to spend hours at the piano. I was taking classical lessons, but I was also just messing around, trying to play some blues licks or whatever. I just liked the instrument. And then I got into records, recordings of classical and jazz stuff and that's when I was hooked. Back then, a lot of classical stuff and also Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Nat Cole, and later Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Coltrane, my mom had a lot of jazz records that she brought back from the States and that's what got me exposed initially to the music.


FJ: Winning the Thelonious Monk Competition (1993), you became an overnight sensation and the baggage that comes with such distinctions.

JACKY TERRASSON: Yeah, it was, I think now the whole thing is a little more structured, not to say that it wasn't at that time, but it was kind of shocking to me that it really put me in the spotlight for a minute and suddenly I had to get a lawyer and get a manager and I was courted by three major labels. It was kind of a whirlwind. I'm not sure of the expression, but it was a lot of stuff coming at you at once. But never the less, this being a musician, a professional musician, making a career of the music is hard enough and things like that help you and you need all the help you can get so I think it's great. It is media-tized now. It is on national TV and all that, so it helps the music. It helps jazz.


FJ: How instrumental was the late Betty Carter on your development?

JACKY TERRASSON: The first time I met Betty was on a recording session for Javon Jackson, a saxophone player. It was a Blue Note recording session and Betty Carter was the producer and I think the session was two days and by the end of the recording, Betty asked me to join her band and I told her I needed a week to tell her. (Laughing) No, actually, she only gave me 48 hours to give her an answer, so I thought about it and I said that this is what I came to the States for. This is why I left Paris. I went with it and it was a tremendous learning and musical experience. Betty really wanted you to play everything you had and to have the piano seat in that band was really a privilege. She wanted you to push yourself. She didn't want you to play the same things. She wanted you to really listen and be attentive, just like she was all the time. I have to say, she taught me how to just be cool and take my time on the ballads. She was unique at that, the way she performed ballads. She was a sweetheart.


FJ: Your trio with Ugonna Okegwo and Leon Parker was one of the promising young trios that realized adult maturity. Are you continuing the evolution?

JACKY TERRASSON: No, I mean, I've had that trio on and off for ten years. About three years ago, we made a switch, first changing the bass player. Now I am playing with Sean Smith at the bass. Recently, about ten months ago, I've been playing with Eric Harland at the drums. Actually, my latest recording, Smile, I almost called Trio '02 because to me, a lot of the music happens in 2002 and also, I consider it my second, really powerful, exciting trio.


FJ: Did you take Smile prepped into the studio?

JACKY TERRASSON: Yeah, pretty much. This trio and this recording, Smile, it is really an extension in a way of my previous recordings, but it is more of a jazz record. I need to go back to the previous recording, the one that was called A Paris…, which was basically a collection of French melodies that I treated like standards, but the record itself had like fourteen tracks and they are like short tracks. It was more of a conceptual record and its purpose was to present all these very heavy, beautiful melodies. When we were on the road, we needed more material and the repertoire expanded and expanded and we added some stuff that was not related to the French thing anymore, but somehow connected like "Parisian Thoroughfare," Bud Powell and a few French melodies, basically, the extension of the repertoire, the more the repertoire expanded, that extension is the latest recording, basically, with the addition of some totally spontaneous stuff that happened in the studio like "Isn't She Lovely?," like "Nardis," were unplanned. So I would say that when I went into the studio, I had about 60 percent of the material chosen and arranged and then I like to leave some space for impromptu, unplanned, spontaneous stuff.


FJ: Being born of both cultures and trying to convey one to another becomes a challenge, a difficulty not aided by the fact that the only French song most Americans are familiar with is "La Vie en Rose."

JACKY TERRASSON: Yeah, yeah, "La Vie en Rose," but the idea for that record was to take, I mean, I grew up with these melodies. I heard them on TV and on radio. I heard them in the street. I heard them in school. I heard them in movies. To me, if you look at jazz standards, where do they come from? They come from old Broadway shows, from movies, from the street. What I decided to do with A Paris… is the same thing, but with a repertoire from where I grew up, with French songs. Basically, the beauty of jazz is you can take any melody and improvise on it and make it your own, make it something else. Why play the same things? You can take any melody and play it and have fun with it, disguise it and have fun with it.


FJ: You make a home of both cultures, you must notice the subtle and not so subtle nuances.

JACKY TERRASSON: Wow, that is a heavy question, Fred. I would say, to answer it globally, quality of life. This has nothing to do with music, well, maybe it does, but I think the quality of life in Europe in general is of better quality than here. For social reasons, for all kinds of reasons.


FJ: Certainly the European union supports the arts more.

JACKY TERRASSON: That's true, well, in general, let's go back to jazz. Jazz has always been accepted and recognized as an art form. I think it is now here, well, it is getting there, but it has been recognized and accepted and respected earlier in time over in Europe than here, which is kind of surprising since it is probably one of the only genuine, not only, but really genuine art forms of the United States.


FJ: You did Kindred with label mate Stefon Harris.

JACKY TERRASSON: I loved working with Stefon. We actually have some gigs lined up for next year. Yeah, he is a very exciting, unpredictable player and I like that. There is always an element of surprise and I like to be kind of have that in my playing myself. When we're playing, it is like a mouse and a cat having fun (laughing).


FJ: You both are better live than on record.

JACKY TERRASSON: Well, we're going to hopefully, it looks like there is a nice tour shaping up in the States for January and February.


FJ: Any dates on calendar?

JACKY TERRASSON: Well, I will only give you the confirmed dates. So far, we have a week in New York City at the Village Vanguard. That is going to be February 4-9. In January, prior to that, sorry, 14, 15, 16, Yoshi's, Oakland, California. The following week, from the 21-26 at the Jazz Bakery in LA and then some tentative stuff, but it is not confirmed.


FJ: What do you realize now, you didn't then?

JACKY TERRASSON: Yeah, the one thing I've learned, I can say, simply with time is that you should always trust your heart and only that and your gut feeling and try to not be affected by either the hip, the good stuff, neither the negative stuff, but always follow and believe in your own thing. I think that is what makes me get up and practice and compose or go on the road because there is a lot of defeating stuff out there.


FJ: Lastly, do you love Paris in the springtime?

JACKY TERRASSON: (Laughing) Yeah, yeah, I like Paris all seasons.


FJ: It has four.

JACKY TERRASSON: (Laughing) Yeah, the springtime, the fall. I was just there ten days ago. It was beautiful. Paris is my home town.


FJ: I live in Southern California. We have a variation of one season.

JACKY TERRASSON: (Laughing) Well, we're going to be there soon. Actually, I will be glad to be there because it will be warmer than New York.


Fred Jung is the Editor-In-Chief and here is to the twins. Comments? Email Him