Jean-Michel Pilc

Yesterday we saw the first concert in this year's Jazz Salon series at PianoForte. It was Jean-Michel Pilc. I had heard of him before, probably from an Amazon recommendation. And I came very close to getting a CD of his at the Tower Records fire sale.

The first thing to notice about Pilc's playing is his use of dynamics. He likes to play softly, and he likes to play REALLY LOUD, but he also has marvelous control of the dynamic shape of a phrase. Anyone can crescendo; it's hard to decrescendo well, and he does really well.

Then there are the harmonic adventures, and they were adventurous. Maria didn't always like how they turned out, but I usually did. In any case, I appreciate an artist for taking risks. Some adventures turn out better than others. When they turned out well, they were fascinating.

I told Maria before he started, it would be nice if Pilc played about an hour, that would be just the right amount of music for the setting, I thought. And when he arrived, he announced he would play one hour. Bingo! Sandwiched between two improvisations were liberal interpretations of standards. I did like it when he whistled a Getz saxophone part to his own accompaniment. An encore of "My One And Only Love" was a nice ending.

Afterwards, I bought Pilc's latest CD, New Dreams, and Pilc eagerly signed it for me. He spoke with Maria and me for a couple minutes. A very nice fellow, and an all-around lovely Saturday afternoon in the city with my wife.