Мишель Петруччани: Жизнь и музыка сквозь боль и триумф.

French jazz pianist

Michel Petrucciani (miʃɛl petʁutʃani; petrutˈtʃaːni; 28 December 1962 – 6 January 1999) with a musical background. His father Tony played guitar, his brother Louis played bass, and his brother Philippe also plays the guitar. Michel was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, which is a genetic disease that causes brittle bones and, in his case, short stature. It is also often linked to pulmonary ailments. The disease caused his bones to fracture over 100 times before he reached adolescence and kept him in pain throughout his entire life. "I have pain all the time. I'm used to having hurt arms," he said. In Michel's early career, his father and brother occasionally carried him because he could not walk far on his own unaided. In certain respects he considered his disability an advantage, as he got rid of distractions like sports that other boys tended to become involved in. And he hints that his disability was helpful in other parts of his life. He said: "Sometimes I think someone upstairs saved me from being ordinary." Soon after this, Michel's father bought him a real piano. From the beginning, Petrucciani had always been musical, reportedly humming Wes Montgomery solos by the time he learned to speak. He began learning classical piano at the age of four, and was making music with his family by the age of nine. The musician who would prove most influential to Petrucciani was Bill Evans, to whom he began listening at around the age of ten. Petrucciani's layered harmonies, lyrical style, and articulation of melody have always been linked most strongly to this early exposure to Evans.

Petrucciani gave his first professional concert at the age of 13. At this point of his life, he was still quite fragile and had to be carried to and from the piano. His hands were average in length, but his size meant that he required aids to reach the piano's pedals. Petrucciani felt he needed to travel to Paris to begin his musical career, but he found it difficult to leave home. His father was protective, constantly concerned for his son's well being and reluctant to put him in any danger. Petrucciani's drummer Aldo Romano said of Michel's father: "[He] was an idiot. He didn't trust anybody. He wanted to keep Petrucciani as a partner, to play music with. He was very jealous. So I had to fight to take him to Paris, because his father didn't want me to, because he wanted to keep him, like you would cage a monster." Petrucciani and Lloyd's tour of the West Coast of the United States was a huge success and they continued internationally. On 22 February 1985, with Petrucciani cradled in his arms, Lloyd walked onto the stage at Town Hall in New York City and sat him on his piano stool for what would be a historic evening in jazz history: the filming of One Night with Blue Note. The film's director John Charles Jopson would later recall in the reissued liner notes that the moment moved him to tears. Petrucciani and Lloyd's performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was made into an album, and in 1982, they won the 1982 Prix d'Excellence. He also played with diverse figures in the U. S. jazz scene including Dizzy Gillespie. But he made a priority of recording solo piano also. He said: "I really believe a pianist is not complete until he's capable of playing by himself. I started doing solo concerts in February 1993, when I asked my agent to cancel my trio dates for a year in order to play nothing but solo recitals I had a wonderful time playing alone, and discovering the piano and really studying every night. I felt like I was learning so much about the instrument and about communicating directly with an audience. So it was an incredible experience. I really loved doing that, and afterwards getting on stage with a group again and playing with other people was a piece of cake!"

He had five significant personal relationships: Erlinda Montano (marriage), Eugenia Morrison, Marie Laure Roperch, the Italian pianist Gilda Buttà (the marriage lasted three months and ended in divorce) and Isabelle Mailé (with whom he shares his grave). With Marie Laure he fathered a son, Alexandre, who inherited his genetic disorder. He also had a stepson named Rachid Roperch. In 1994, he was granted the Order of the Légion d'honneur in Paris. In the late 1990s, Petrucciani's lifestyle became increasingly taxing. He was performing over 100 times per year, and in 1998, the year before he died, he performed 140 times. He became too weak to use crutches and had to resort to a wheelchair. His final manager said, "He was working too much – not only recording and doing concerts, but he was always on television, and he was always doing interviews. He got himself overworked, and you could see it. He pushed too much." In his later years Petrucciani was known to drink heavily.

Osteogenesis imperfecta seemed to contribute greatly both to Petrucciani's personality and his playing style. By his own account, he was in almost constant physical pain.

A mosaic of a piano by Édouard Detmer in his honor was included on the Place Michel Petrucciani in the 18th district of Paris. Michel recorded a piano solo on "Why Do You Do Things Like That?" on Patrick Rondat's On the Edge, which was released the same year as Petrucciani's death. Patrick Rondat dedicated this album to him. "Waltz For Michel Petrucciani", a song on the Finnish jazz Trio Töykeät's album Kudos, is dedicated to him. Christian Jacob's album Contradictions does his interpretation of eleven of Petrucciani's compositions as a kind of tribute. "Simply Marvellous (Celebrating the Music of Michel Petrucciani)" is a Jazz album released in 2012 by Tommaso Starace featuring nine of Petrucciani's most celebrated compositions. "To Mike P.", a composition by the Italian jazz pianist Nico Marziliano, is dedicated to him.