Jacky Terrasson: Push auf CD

Concord Jazz proudly announces the release of pianist Jacky Terrasson's new album Push. The album features a new working trio that includes recent Thelonious Monk Competition winner Ben Williams on bass, Jamire Williams on drums and a handful of special guests. Push, Terrasson's 11th overall album and Concord Jazz debut, moves forward with a program of invigorating new repertoire and standards that infuse the familiar with the unlikely, including nods to Michael Jackson.

Ever since pianist extraordinaire Jacky Terrasson burst upon the jazz scene in 1993 by winning the Thelonious Monk Piano Competition, he has consistently recorded richly refined and remarkably free-spirited music. After delivering 10 CDs for Blue Note Records, Terrasson's Concord Jazz debut Push is an 11-track gem of dynamic pianism that opens up a new door onto his creative technique and ingenuity.

"It's definitely a turning point for me," says the Berlin-born, Paris-raised, New York-based master of the keys. "I'm with a new label, so that made it important to me to do things differently. I wanted another sound, and I wanted to explore what I've been going through personally over the last few years. There are different grooves, beats and vibe." And like the album title suggests, the music is driven by an inherent thrust forward. Terrasson explains, "Push means to make things happen, to push into new directions. That's what this album is all about." Part of this advance includes the pianist making his vocal debut on two songs. "I know I'm not a singer," he says. "But I've been hearing that in my head for years, so I figured why not." He laughs and adds, "I pushed for it."

Push features seven new Terrasson compositions as well as a sampling of fresh spins on standards, including two Monk tunes and a Cole Porter beauty as well as a version of the timeless melody "Body and Soul" melded with "Beat It," Michael Jackson's Thriller hit. On board for the ride are Terrasson's core trio mates, bassist Ben Williams and drummer Jamire Williams (no relation), plus such guests as harmonica ace Gregoire Maret, tenor saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart, guitarist Matthew Stevens and percussion Cyro Baptista, who quietly stars on three numbers.

To Terrasson, Push represents "the beginning of something new even though it's tied to everything I've done before. There are a lot more of my own compositions-more than ever-and it's like the introduction to a new stage in my musical life."

As for the one-word title, Terrasson smiles when reminded that several of his previous recordings were also one-worders: Reach (1996), Rendezvous (with Cassandra Wilson, 1997), Alive (1998), Smile (2002) and Mirror (2007). "I like it that way," he says. "It's short and to the point. Push." (concordmusicgroup. com)

Das nennt man einen Neuanfang nach Maß! Als der Pianist Jacky Terrasson nach sechzehn Jahren Treue zum Blue-Note-Label zu Concord Music wechselte und dort im Mai 2010 sein neuestes Album “Push” herausbrachte, sagte er: “Ich bin definitiv an einen Wendepunkt gelangt. Ich bin jetzt bei einem neuen Label, und deshalb war es für mich wichtig, die Sachen einmal anders anzugehen. Ich wollte ein anderes Klangbild, und ich wollte mich musikalisch mit dem auseinandersetzen, was mich in den letzten Jahren so persönlich beschäftigt hat.” (jazzecho. de)

Dass er mit seinen neuen, etwas verspielteren Klängen beim Publikum den richtigen Nerv getroffen hat, zeigt nun auch die Mitteilung, dass “Push” von den Juroren der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik auf deren vierteljährlich erscheinende Bestenliste gesetzt wurde.

Rezensionen

"Der Pianist packt nicht nur durch dionysische Kraft im rasanten Stück; auch seine Balladen leuchten, weil melodisch prägnant und tief empfunden. Ja, der 44-Jährige bleibt ein Mann der Frische und Vielfalt – sei’s mit federleichtem Swing in Vince-Guaraldi-Manier ("Gaux Girl"), eigenwilligen Pop-Exegesen ("Beat It") oder gospeliger Freude ("Say Yeah")." (wienerzeitung. at)

"But this set feels warmer, more musical and more mindful of its materials than previous outings, as well as emitting bursts of headlong energy that make you whoop....It feels like a new lease of life for Terrasson." (guardian. co. uk)

"Push, then, is absolutely classic Terrasson. It is full of double entendre, unbridled ideation and luminosity. Like Monk, his muse, Terrasson's solos are abstruse. This is because his purported approach is never linear, but is instead curved—and if he can get away with it, inside out. He attacks melodies askance, sometimes taking cues for his solo excursions from the third or fourth line in a verse. He is decidedly phonetic in his choice of notes, when expressing melodic invention in a kind of "E Flat's Ah Flat too" sort of way. Thus, he sometimes makes the most unlikely sequence of notes fit mellifluously. His soloing seems to come from deep within his lean guts, careening through his lean body and gaunt shoulders, and flung as if waved on by a magical wand onto the keyboard, where his fingers settle their scores with the keys." (allaboutjazz. com)