After reissuing virtually every recording in their catalog by pianist
Michel Petrucciani, the Dreyfus label followed up with a considerably more compact and affordable selection in the form of the
Original Album Classics five-CD set.
Conference de Presse, which dates from 1994, is an album of piano and organ duets with Parisian keyboardist
Eddy Louiss.
Flamingo, from 1995, finds
Petrucciani in the company of violinist
Stéphane Grappelli, bassist
George Mraz, and drummer
Roy Haynes. The rest of the material in this set traces back to the years 1996-1997. Trio in Tokyo provides evidence of the collaborative communion between
Petrucciani, drummer
Steve Gadd, and bassist
Anthony Jackson. This threesome formed the nucleus of the ensemble heard on
Both Worlds, with the addition of saxophonist
Stefano di Battista, trumpeter
Flavio Boltro, and valve trombonist
Bob Brookmeyer, who also acted as arranger on this album.
Solo Live taps into
Petrucciani's one-man performance at a concert hall in Frankfurt, Germany, which rounds out the package very nicely. Taking into account the amount of recording that
Petrucciani did for Dreyfus, this is a nice little taste. The truly smitten may want or need to save up for the 14-piece mothership box known as
The Complete Dreyfus Jazz Recordings, a ten-album retrospective garnished with two DVDs. ~ arwulf arwulf