I have never been a great admirer of Petrucciani, which is probably my fault and my loss, since many piano buffs whom I respect have a lot of time for him. But I enjoyed this, even if the music is less searching and ‘radical’ than I’ve come to associate with his work. The rather strange line-up – piano and keyboards but no front-line horn – actually works very well, and there’s a rich variety of mood and texture on hand. I’m very impressed by Logan, who drives everything with taste and consummate skill, and the group as a whole is well-meshed, vibrant and silkily fluent.
Petrucciani wrote all the songs except the closing Estate; the lines are attractively supple if finally unremarkable, and he milks the propulsive Bite of all its possibilities. Magic is a fetching theme, rather funkier than I was expecting, and it is given an engaging and tight reading, as is Licks, which is a clever, tangential tribute to Davis.
All in all the record offers an hour of very agreeable listening, and if my response is finally tepid, it’s because Shakatak and other fringe groups have done this kind of thing just as well, and it’s faintly disappointing to hear an allegedly important modern stylist driving resolutely down the middle of the road.
Discography
Black Magic; Miles Davis Licks; Contradictions; Bite; Rachid; Looking Up; Thank You Note; Estate (58.50)
Michel Petrucciani (p); Adam Holzman (kyb); Steve Logan (b); Victor Jones (d); Abdou M’Boop (pc). Metz, France, November, 1991.
(Blue Note 0777 7 80589 2)
