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Home , Jacky Terrasson, Stefon Harris, Ugonna Okegwo

B I O G R A P H Y

J A C K Y T E R R A S S O N

While each and every one of 's eight releases is unique in its own devilish fashion, one thing can be said time and again about his style: It has a tendency to delight as it unconventionally upends conventional material. With the release of Smile, Blue Note announces an electrifying set produced by the acclaimed pianist and Terrasson manager Christophe Deghelt. Featuring a typically eclectic array of standards, both classic and contemporary, Smile also features Terrasson's own "59" to round out the program. The 37-year-old pianist is at home in any generation, whether he's playing ageless standards like "Autumn Leaves" and "My Funny Valentine," exotic rarities like "Sous le Ciel de Paris," or Bill Lee's "Mo Better Blues" from filmmaker Spike Lee's movie of the same name.

Smile finds Jacky supported by newcomers acoustic bassist Sean Smith and drummer , with extra juice provided by electric bassist Remi Vignolo on three tracks. "I have been touring my last record, À Paris, in Europe for the past year and a half," Terrasson relates. "I started working with Sean at that time. Eric and I have been working together for about nine months now." But there came a time when the last record repertoire wasn't enough for the live shows. That’s how 'Parisian Thoroughfare,' 'My Funny Valentine,' and ‘The Dolphin’ slipped into the live shows." The play list grew into the new album. Recorded and mixed in Pompignan, France, Smile expresses the French-American pianist as an artist skillfully guiding his cohorts in the creative process.

For those familiar with the piano phenom's trademark approach, Smile will not disappoint. Sprightly and thoroughly unorthodox, he takes piano master Bud Powell's classic bop standard "Parisian Thoroughfare" for more than just a spin: it's a whirlwind trip through a sonic landscape turbo-charged in 7/4, adding heft to the musical term "contrapuntal" as he swingingly drives his trio over and across the changes. Maintaining Powell's energy, Terrasson is not content to simply keep up with this bop classic as he reinvents what used to be a familiar tune.

The same could be said for Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely," where that typically fanfarish arrangement of Stevie's is deconstructed, starkly setting the beautiful melody line against fragmented bass lines and a relentless drum ’n’ bass beat. "When we were touring, I was thinking ahead to the next record," he states, "and then trying to come up with original arrangements. 'Isn't She Lovely' wasn't even planned. It's for my newborn daughter. I didn't write anything that was beautiful enough for her, so I picked it instead. The first time we performed it was in the studio; the same for ['] ‘Nardis.’ For 'Nardis' I started this vamp and the guys just followed. At the end, it was supposed to be a fade out but when we heard the track back, I liked the feel on the vamp so I told the engineer to keep it all.” And who ever thought of playing the title track, movie great Charlie Chaplin's tender "Smile," in 5/4? Somehow, Terrasson makes it all work. "I've been very comfortable playing in 7, but I wanted to challenge myself playing in 5. 'Smile' was the most challenging arrangement on this recording: I worked on it at home on the computer using Logic Audio, and playing along with bass and drums tracks. The challenge was how to phrase the melody over the 5/4. I first tried keeping it very lyrical like the original version but I felt like it really needed a voice singing the lyrics so, to make clearly an instrumental thing, I opted for a more syncopated phrasing.”

Winner of the distinctive Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition in 1993, Terrasson was soon after 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. As if to prove that very point, he has served the music in a number of ways, including working for singers , Dee Dee Bridgewater, Betty Carter and (along with drummer Arthur Taylor) as their arranger/accompanist. Carter, for one, called him the most challenging pianist she ever worked with. The year following the Monk Competition victory, Jacky released his first album for Blue Note, Jacky Terrasson. The response was phenomenal, with Time Magazine listing it among their Top Albums of 1995. Subsequent albums, all for Blue Note, have included '95's Reach, Rendezvous (with ) in 1997, Alive in 1998, What It Is in '99, and two 2001 releases, one with entitled Kindred and his own À Paris.

Speaking of À Paris, the image-filled track "Sous le Ciel de Paris (Under the Sky of Paris)," serves as a kind of bridge song to Smile. "I like to have a link between my records. This one would be a link with À Paris," Terrasson comments. "My previous record was a conceptual album, a sort of 'Come into my art gallery and discover my exhibit of French melodies.' They were short takes to get as many in as I could. For Smile, there's more playing, more looseness; it's more of a jazz record, perhaps not as polished as À Paris." Even so, Smile, with the longest track clocking in at just under seven minutes, is hardly a blowing record, as the pianist concurs, "If I can manage to pull off a melody in a original way and hopefully make a strong statement, then it's not necessary for me to improvise. Just playing the song, the ‘head’ as we say, can be quite emotionally charged, particularly on a pretty, slow ballad and anything else could be overkill!"

Speaking of statements, his propulsive closer "59" may best sum up his approach to song playing. "I had been looking for a title for this piece for a long time; I couldn't find a title that could embrace the whole," Terrasson says. When it came right down to it, titling the song was simply a matter of paying attention to what was already there. "The first half is in 5, with the vamp part in 9." Hence, the title. It ends loud. As the sometimes-flamboyant pianist says, "I sometimes like ending loud."

And loud is what folks are bound to hear if they see the trio live. After another European fall tour to promote the continental release of Smile, the band will begin a U.S. tour, starting in January. Confirmed venues include San Francisco's Yoshi's, the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, and the Village Vanguard in New York (other cities to be announced). For Terrasson, who encourages listeners to visit his website at www.terrasson.com, the live element is truly where it's at: "I’m really curious to see how the music of Smile is going to evolve on the road." In other words, Smile is just the beginning to another Jacky Terrasson musical adventure. B I O G R A P H Y

J A C K Y T E R R A S S O N

Jazz ist improvisierte Musik, und improvisiert wird sie zumeist über den klassisch gewordenen Melodien des Great American Songbook aus der ersten Hälfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Selten, aber im zu Ende gegangenen Jahrzehnt zunehmend öfter, diente auch schon mal eine gut abgehangene Pop-Komposition der Beatles oder auch von Nirvana als Grundlage. Aber taugt wirklich nur populäres angloamerikanisches Liedgut als materielle Grundlage und als Inspiration für zeitgenössische Jazzmusiker? Der Bandleader, Komponist, Arrangeur und Pianist Jacky Terrasson beantwortet diese Frage für sich mit einem klaren Nein: Auf seinem neuen Album "À Paris" geht der Jazz eine aufregende Liaison mit populären französischen Songs ein. Dass der 35-jährige Terrasson zu den profiliertesten Jazz-Pianisten seiner Generation zählt, mag niemand mehr ernsthaft bestreiten. Bei zahllosen packenden Live-Auftritten und auf seinen splendiden Blue Note-Alben "Reach" (1995), "Rendezvous" (1997, gemeinsam mit Cassandra Wilson), "Alive" (1998) und "What It Is" (1999) bewies der Künstler eine durch die Bank perfekte Virtuosität. Vorwerfen konnte man ihm dabei allenfalls, dass seine Persönlichkeit hinter dieser fast beängstigenden Perfektion zu verschwinden droht. Doch gerade diese Kritik hebelt "À Paris" aus, denn das Werk ist Terrassons bislang persönlichstes. Geboren in als Sohn einer Amerikanerin und eines Franzosen, kehrte der in Paris Aufgewachsene in das Land der prägenden Jahre zurück - und bereitete hier eine geschmack- wie gehaltvolle Jazz-Bouillabaisse zu. Schon vor sechs Jahren nahm "À Paris" in Terrassons Gedanken Gestalt an. Doch erst jetzt fühlte er sich reif für die Realisation. "Du kannst keine französisch orientierte Einspielung in den USA aufnehmen", so Terrasson, "also wollten wir ursprünglich in Paris ins Studio. Dann erzählte mir ein Freund von einer alten Weinkellerei, die in ein Studio mit erstklassigem Equipment umgebaut worden war. Es war wirklich wundervoll dort. Wir arbeiteten, aßen und lebten miteinander. Während der freien Zeit hingen wir draußen rum und sprachen über die Musik." Das Recall-Studio liegt in Pompignan im ländlichen Süden Frankreichs, und die Entspanntheit des Ortes schimmert durch all die romantischen Songs des Albums hindurch. Insgesamt 21 Tracks hat Terrasson eingespielt, 14 von ihnen fanden schließlich den Weg auf "À Paris". Das Album beginnt mit zwei Liebesliedern, dem bluesigen "Plaisir D’Amour" und dem poetischen "Les Chemins D’Amour". "Plaisir D’Amour" wurde von Edith Piaf berühmt gemacht, und diese Fassung lief denn auch immer auf dem Plattenspieler der drei älteren Schwestern Terrassons. "Les Chemins D’Amour" wurde Terrasson von seinem alten Mentor Francis Paudras nahegebracht, der einst Bud Powell während dessen Jahren in Frankreich betreute und dessen Biographie die Basis des Films "Round About Midnight" bildet. Der Titeltrack ist gleichzeitig der längste und wird von Terrasson voll ausgekostet — mehr als acht Minuten lyrische Melancholie pur. Zu den weiteren Höhepunkten zählen brillante Interpretationen von Jacques Brels "Ne Me Quitte Pas" und der Marseillaise, die Terrasson freilich nicht aus patriotischen Gründen, sondern wegen ihrer für ihn unwiderstehlichen Melodie als eigenwillige Ballade inszeniert. "Ich habe auf diesem Album exakt dasselbe gemacht, was Jazzmusiker sonst mit amerikanischen Songs machen: die Melodie nehmen und darauf improvisieren", resümiert Terrasson, dem neben seinen langjährigen Trio-Gefährten (Bass) und (Schlagzeug) eine weitere Rhythmussektion mit Remi Vignello (Bass) und (Schlagzeug) sowie zahlreiche Gäste wie (Saxophon) oder Stefon Harris (Marimbas) zur Seite standen. Und obwohl der Jazz und die Improvisation das alles zusammenhaltende Gerüst für Terrassons Projekt bilden, verbindet "À Paris" zwei große Kulturen zu etwas wirklich aufregend Neuem. Der Künstler arbeitet denn auch schon an einem zweiten Album mit gleichem Konzept.