Martial Solal - Live in Ottobrunn (Solo Piano) '2022

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. My Funny Valentine (Live)
02. Histoire De Blues (Live)
03. Tea for Two (Live)
04. Caravan - Sophisticated Lady - Satin Doll (Live)
05. I'll Remember April (Live)
06. Brother Jack (Live)
07. Lover Man (Live)
08. Cherokee (Live)
09. Improvisation (Live)
10. Coming Yesterday (Live)
11. Happy Birthday (Live)
12. Here's That Rainy Day (Live)
13. Round Midnight (Live)
14. Köln Duet, Improvisation (Live)
15. My One and Only Love (Live)


 moreA student of 20th century European composers such as Béla Bartók,
Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg, and Olivier Messiaen, his early influences on piano
were Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, and Art Tatum, followed by Erroll Garner, Bud
Powell, and Bill Evans. Some might hear elements of Herbie Nichols or Dodo
Marmarosa. Both Oscar Peterson and Duke Ellington held him in highest esteem. As
a composer he is clearly descended from both Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Each
of these currents flows freely yet systematically through his music, tempered by
his own unique sensibilities and a vast store of impressions harvested and
manifested during a lengthy lifetime spent in absorption, reflection, and
emanation.

Born to French parents in Algiers, North Africa, on August 23, 1927, Martial
Solal grew up under the influence of his mother, an opera singer who encouraged
him to learn to play piano, clarinet, and saxophone. In 1942 the Vichy
government's adopted Nazi racial policies (enforced in the French colony of
Algeria) resulted in his expulsion from school, solely on account of his
father's Jewish ancestry. Already familiar with the classical piano repertoire
from Bach to Debussy, young Solal now became a full-time musical autodidact. A
turning point occurred when he pushed himself to emulate a recording he heard
over the radio, unaware that he'd been listening to a piece for piano four
hands. (Similarly, finger-style guitar virtuoso Guy Van Duser cited an
overdubbed Chet Atkins record as an important inspiration for his own
exceptional accomplishments.) By the age of 15, Solal was performing publicly,
often playing to an audience of U.S. Armed Forces personnel.

Solal continued to study and perform while enlisted in the military, began
working professionally in 1945, and moved to Paris in 1950, performing in
nightclubs and making his first recordings as soloist and sideman, sometimes
under the name of O.J. Jaguar. During this period he worked with bassist Pierre
Michelot and in bands led by trumpeter Aimé Barelli, drummers Gerard Pochonet
and Benny Bennett, and triple-threat trumpet/clarinet/tenor sax man Noel
Chiboust. Solal formed a quartet in 1951 with trumpeter Roger Guerin, bassist
Paul Rovère, and drummer Daniel Humair. He recorded with an ensemble under
the direction of composer Andre Hodeir in 1952, then cut an LP with his own trio
and participated in Django Reinhardt's very last session in 1953. In 1955 Solal
played on what appears to have been Argentine composer and bandoneon virtuoso
Astor Piazzolla's first European recording date. He jammed with guitarist Henri
Crolla and progressive clarinetists/tenor saxophonists Hubert Rostaing and
Maurice Meunier, and in 1956 was heard on one of earliest albums ever to appear
under the name of Claude Bolling.

Solal's artistic collaborations with visiting or expatriate U.S. jazz musicians
during the '50s and early '60s included sessions with trumpeter Clark Terry,
trombonist Quentin "Butter" Jackson, saxophonists Sidney Bechet, Don Byas, Lucky
Thompson, and Stan Getz, guitarist Jimmy Gourley, bassist Joe Benjamin, and
drummers Kenny Clarke and Roy Haynes, as well as bassist Curtis Counce among a
small contingent of instrumentalists associated with bandleader Stan Kenton. In
1960, Solal achieved international fame when he scored music for the soundtrack
to Jean-Luc Godard's film A Bout de Soufflé. Together with trumpeter Roger
Guerin, alto saxophonist Pierre Gossez, vibraphonist Michael A. Hauser, bassist
Paul Rovère, and drummer Daniel Humair, Solal created a fascinating suite of
deceptively simple variations that greatly enhanced the film's restless pacing,
thrilling plot, and revolutionary editing. Other film projects would include
scores for films by Godard's contemporaries Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri
Verneuil, Edouard Molinaro, and Jean Becker, as well as Jean Cocteau's Testament
of Orpheus and Franz Kafka's The Trial as interpreted by Orson Welles.

A period of busy productivity ensued, including live performances and several
albums with Humair and bassist Guy Pedersen. In 1963, Solal appeared live in
Berlin, at the Hickory House in New York, in Montreal, and at the Newport Jazz
Festival with bassist Teddy Kotick and drummer Paul Motian. A brief alignment
with Attila Zoller and Hans Koller resulted in a configuration remembered as
Zo-Ko-So. From 1965-1969, Solal's reconstituted trio included Gilbert "Bibi"
Rovère and drummer Charles Bellonzi. In 1967 Solal was heard in San Francisco
and at the Monterey Jazz Festival. During the '60s he recorded with guitarist
Wes Montgomery and trombonist Slide Hampton, initiated a long-standing artistic
relationship with saxophonist Lee Konitz, and performed in duet with pianist
Hampton Hawes backed by Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke. During the '70s Solal
recorded as a soloist at various locales including Villingen, Germany, and
Warsaw, Poland; in duets with Konitz, Stéphane Grappelli, Joachim Kühn,
and bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen; in trios with Pedersen, Rovère,
Jean-François Jenny-Clark, and Humair; in quartets with Konitz, Pedersen,
Dave Holland, guitarist John Scofield, and Jack DeJohnette; and with a band led
by George Gruntz.

During the '80s Solal led a 25-piece big band, appeared live at New York's Town
Hall with an ensemble led by Daniel Humair, and continued to record as a
soloist. Solal's two piano concerti, composed during the '80s, were recorded in
1989. A resurgence of activity occurred during the '90s, as he teamed up with
pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque and engaged in creative duets with
pianist Joachim Kühn, violinist Didier Lockwood, mouth organist Toots
Thielemans, trumpeter Eric Le Lann, and tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin.
Solal's trios now involved bassists Marc Johnson and Gary Peacock, drummers Paul
Motian and Peter Erskine. He also made an album with bassist Mads Vinding and
Daniel Humair backed by the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra.

Martial Solal inaugurated the 21st century by composing music for Les Acteurs, a
film directed by Bertrand Blier, and remained active in the recording studios.
In one setting, Solal's quartet was augmented by an orchestra conducted by
Patrice Caratini. Solal's 12-piece "Dodecaband" interpreted an album's worth of
Ellington tunes and his "Une Piece Pour Quatre" was included with compositions
by Phil Woods, Paquito d'Rivera, and Aldemaro Romero in an album by the
Accademia Saxophone Quartet.

In 2007, Solal released Exposition Sans Tableau featuring a scaled-down
"Newdecaband" that included vocalizations by his daughter Claudia Solal. Also
around this time, he collaborated with clarinetist Rolf Kuhn and with trumpeter
Dave Douglas. He then delivered the trio album Longitude with brothers Louis and
François Moutin. A concert album, Live at the Village Vanguard, followed in
2009. In 2016, Solal joined fellow French pianist Eric Ferrand-N'Kaoua for
Martial Solal: Works for Piano and Two Pianos. The following year, he and
saxophonist David Liebman released the duo album Masters in Bordeaux, followed
by the solo outing My One and Only Love: Live at Theater Gütersloh in 2018. ~
arwulf arwulf

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