Live at the Village Vanguard
With this 1984 effort, originally released as a double LP, French piano phenom Michel Petrucciani (who died in 1999) goes out of his way to associate himself with the late, legendaryBill Evans. Recorded at New York's Village Vanguard, site of a famous Evans live album, it features onetime Evans drummer Eliot Zigmund (along with bassist Palle Danielsson, a favorite of Keith Jarrett's) and opens with "Nardis," aMiles Daviscomposition that Evans obsessed over. For all that, Petrucciani has no trouble projecting a strong individual identity in showcasing his classically dipped, bop-treated lyricism and stirring into his trio a potent mixture that fits somewhere between the innovative, interactive approach Evans favored and the pianist-plus-accompaniment approach of jazz convention. The songs, including a romping treatment ofSonny Rollins's "Oleo" and several sparkling Petrucciani originals, are epic in scope but intimate in effect.--Lloyd Sachs