Welcome Home—Jean-Michel Pilc Trio

(Dreyfus Jazz — FDM 36630-2)

We must admit to not having been familiar with pianist Jean-Michel Pilc prior to hearing Welcome Home. He's recorded four records previous to this brand new effort on Dreyfus Jazz, and a few of you may recognize him from Richard Bona's 1999 release on Columbia, Scenes From My Life.

Welcome Home is a CD chock full of standards, but it's not a "safe haven" by any means. It's difficult not to be overwhelmed by the virtuosity and brute force of Pilc's reading of the Miles Davis anthem, "So What." Some of his interpretations of other famous standards will set your mind, not to mention your ears, reeling. For instance, before he launches into Coltrane's "Giant Steps," Pilc fools around in the intro with a swirling combination of "Mission Impossible" and "The Pink Panther." The ordinarily vulnerable "Tenderly" is bumped and bruised by the time Pilc finishes with it. On the more introspective side, Pilc's evocative adaptation of Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" is haunting and remote.

Although Pilc's trio records for a French label, Jean-Michel has been living in New York since 1995. His hot group consists of longtime bassist Francois Moutin and Ari Hoenig, who joined up with Pilc from Philadelphia after the pianist arrived in the States. When he's not on the jazz bandstand, Jean-Michel is also the music director for Harry Bellefonte, who wrote the liner notes for Welcome Home. In terms of touch, Pilc pulls no punches; playing jazz piano since age ten, he cites Vladimir Horowitz, Earl Hines and Errol Garner as his prime influences. But Pilc's technique will remind listeners of a twist of McCoy Tyner, a bite of Monk and a jagged shard of Cecil Taylor.