Pianist Jean-Michel Pilc continues to put out iconoclastic music that, while holding on with a few fingers to the jazz tradition, also grasps at adventurous and modern classical sounds, as he demonstrates on this solo disc. This collection is culled from two performances, both at the Fazioli Piano Loft in New Jersey, but only one in front of an audience. The music mixes tangential readings of standards such as “Caravan” and “Too Young To Go Steady” with self-penned songs and a collection of “Etudes.” The former has the pianist delivering elliptical touches and meanderings on “I Remember You” and some exotic wire tapping of “Caravan,” with the theme glimpsing in and out like the moon on a cloudy night. His own tunes have a Milhaud-Satie touch, with modern classicism winning the tug of war. Thoughtful and intriguing, yet still working on his own voice.
Motema Music
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