Harry Belafonte:

"I remember the great artist Charles Laughton once saying that the depth of great art can be measured by its unpredictability. At the time this insight was imparted, it was to a group of actors bringing to life the characters of a play. But I have come to learn that this wisdom

does not limit itself to the confines of thespian expression. When one examines the great casts of players that have emerged from the drama of jazz, no matter how varied their styles, from Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis, Jelly Roll Morton to Thelonious Monk, from Ben Webster to Charlie Parker the one ingredient most common to their greatness is the unpredictability of their art. And just when you think you've heard it all, someone new and unpredictable comes along. Welcome Jean-Michel Pilc.

Beyond all that can be said about his masterful technique and his beauty of touch, it is the unpredictability that is central to his remarkable talent. As one listens to each selection, be they vintage or newborn, one is taken into his world of improvisation where the unexpected is constant. What makes the journey even more stimulating is the indelible contribution made by the astounding bassist, Francois Moutin, and a phenomenal drummer, Ari Hoenig. The swift current of improvisation that passes through each frame of music is beautifully evoked by the three artists so well suited for each other.

I have heard them play many times and at the end of each visit, I find myself with awakened expectations for my next encounter with the unpredictable."

Recent News

Jean-Michel's new trio album, "New Dreams" (Thomas Bramerie, bass - Ari Hoenig / Mark Mondesir, drums) has been released in 2007 on Dreyfus Jazz.
Also in the works: "Jean-Michel Pilc - A Portrait", a film by John McCormick about Jean-Michel (documentary, live footage, solo piano etc.) to be released on DVD & iTunes in 2008.
(excerpts available on Home Page)
In 2008, Jean-Michel will be performing solo, trio, and with the "Hoenig Pilc Project", co-led by Jean-Michel & drummer Ari Hoenig.
(see Home Page for news about the project)
Ari Hoenig's album "Inversations" (Dreyfus) also features Jean-Michel.
As an educator, Jean-Michel is now teaching classes, workshops and ensembles at NYU, New School and LeMoyne College in Syracuse, NY, and has given numerous clinics in CA, ID, IL etc.
He is currently working on a pedagogical DVD.

For more info on Jean-Michel's activities & schedule, please visit the pages Projects & Itinerary

Biography

Born in 1960 in Paris, self-taught, Jean-Michel Pilc has played with some of the best jazz musicians: Roy Haynes, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Jean Toussaint, Rick Margitza, Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Daniel Humair, Marcus Miller, Kenny Garrett, Lenny White, Chris Potter, John Abercrombie, Mingus Dynasty & Big Band, Lew Soloff and Richard Bona. He has also worked with Harry Belafonte, as his musical director and pianist.

While living in Europe, Jean-Michel toured in forty countries and participated in more than a dozen recordings, as well as many film scores.

Jean-Michel's desire to expand his musical experience brought him to New York City in 1995. There, he formed a trio with François Moutin (bass) and Ari Hoenig (drums). Soon, they were performing in most jazz venues in NYC, including: Blue Note, Birdland, Knitting Factory and Sweet Basil.

They recorded a one week engagement at Sweet Basil and, in 2000, released 2 CDs Jean-Michel Pilc Trio - Together - Live at Sweet Basil, NYC - Vol. 1 & 2 (A-Records) which have received an exceptional critical acclaim in the US and in Europe. Then Pilc signed a multirecord deal with Dreyfus Jazz. Pilc's first album for Dreyfus, Welcome Home (featuring the same trio), was released beginning of 2002 and got rave reviews from the press, lots of airplay as well as high sales figures.

The Jean-Michel Pilc Trio quickly acquired a brilliant reputation on the international scene and performed in numerous festivals & venues around the world. In 2002 alone, they did a 5 week tour for the release of Welcome Home, followed by a 4 week fall tour of 7 European countries.

A Chicago engagement inspired Neil Tesser to write: "Pilc's playing reveals a roaring fire that all but consumes the cosmopolitan sheen stereotypical of European music.... he creates an admirable trialogue with his band mates (bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Ari Hoenig), that represents another stage in the evolution of the interplay brought to piano jazz by Bill Evans." The Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich found that "Pilc took his place among the most accomplished and stylistically daring jazz pianists working today." And Eric Brace wrote in the Washington Post that: "His densely harmonic reinventions of standards you thought you knew clearly shows a musical genius at work."

Pilc's next album for Dreyfus, Cardinal Points was released in 2003 and received extraordinary reviews: JazzTimes said it "should be studied in every music school in the galaxy..." choosing the CD as one of Top 50 Picks for Critics Picks 2003; and a four Star "Hot Box" review in Down Beat said it's "...ridiculously well-balanced, and trading in the kind of grace that still has the power to shake a room. Keith Jarrett found something similar... Pilc's nudging it a bit further down the line"

Cardinal Points features Jean-Michel's extended work Trio Sonata, created with generous support from Chamber Music America's New Works: Creation and Presentation Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Jean-Michel also got several grants from Meet the Composer, as well as the prestigious Django Reinhardt Prize from the French Jazz Academy (in 2000).

In 2004, Jean-Michel released his first solo album, Follow Me (Dreyfus), which got lots of excellent reviews and radio features.

Jean-Michel and his New Trio have been recorded Live at Iridium, NYC, in 2004. The album has been released on Dreyfus in October 2005, generating lots of press, radio coverage and concerts, including a return engagement at Iridium and an evening performance at IAJE Conference, NYC, in January 2006.

In the last decade, Jean-Michel has been intensively touring worldwide: US, Canada, South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, North Africa, Jamaica... performing solo and with his trio, and also teaching clinics and masterclasses.

In 2006, Jean-Michel has been appointed jazz teacher at NYU (New York University), where he is giving private lessons (piano and other instruments), ensemble classes and improvisation workshops. He’s also teaching for the New School as well as privately.

As a sideman, Jean-Michel has recently played and recorded with drummer Ari Hoenig (The Painter, Smalls Records - Inversations, Dreyfus), vocalists Elisabeth Kontomanou (The Midnight Sun, Nocturne) and J-D Walter, bassist/vocalist Richard Bona (Scenes from my life, Sony/Columbia), soprano saxist Sam Newsome (latest Palmetto release), and altist Rosario Giuliani (More Than Ever, Dreyfus).


Photo copyright Christian Ducasse

"The right hand runs of jazz pianist Jean-Michel Pilc are enough to send shivers up your spine, but this Frenchman is about more than chops. His densely harmonic reinventions of standards you thought you knew clearly shows a musical genius at work."
Eric Brace, The Washington Post

“One of the astounding jazz piano trios of the past decade.”
Don Williamson, Jazz Review

"Mr Pilc seems to have dropped from the sky fully formed, with technique and his ideas in place. He is a physical and densely harmonic player, a splashy stunner who also has a Rubik's-cube mind for chord substitutions."
Ben Ratliff, New York Times

"...visual art references come to mind: Cubist renderings of melody in which the original is reshaped into a completely different visual perspective; the shimmering opaqueness of Impressionism in some of Pilc's lush harmonies... Pilc is a player with a future, one whose impressive work deserves far wider exposure"
Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times

""Follow Me" stands a major summation of Pilc's keyboard art, which has no counterparts. Pilc ranks among today's titans of the instrument... there's more to his art than the speed, precision and power of his 10 phenomenal fingers."
Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
(2004 10 best jazz CDs)