38 Facts About Michel Petrucciani

Michel Petrucciani's family had Neapolitan heritage and lived in Montelimar, France, in the south of France.

At an early age, Michel Petrucciani saw Duke Ellington on television and wished to become a pianist like him.

When Michel Petrucciani was four, his father bought him a toy piano of his own, but Michel Petrucciani smashed the piano with a toy hammer.

Michel Petrucciani 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 Michel Petrucciani was Bill Evans, who he started listening to at around age ten.

Michel Petrucciani gave his first professional concert at the age of 13.

Michel Petrucciani's hands were average in length, but his size meant that he required aids to reach the piano's pedals.

Michel Petrucciani felt he needed to move to Paris to begin his musical career, but found it difficult to leave home.

Michel Petrucciani's father was protective and constantly concerned for his son's well-being, hoping to protect him from danger.

In Paris, Michel Petrucciani started playing with Kenny Clarke in 1977 and Clark Terry in 1978.

Terry needed a pianist, and when Michel Petrucciani was carried onto the stage and the trumpeter saw Michel Petrucciani's stature, at first he thought it was a prank, only later revising the remark.

Indeed Michel Petrucciani astounded the festival with his prodigious talent and virtuosity.

Michel Petrucciani was a dwarf, but he played like a giant.

Drugs and encounters with unsavory women made Michel Petrucciani's time in Paris a mixed experience, but musically and personally it was unequivocally transforming.

Michel Petrucciani was foul-mouthed, wore a yachtsman's cap and frequently acted pushy and tough, referring to people as "baby".

Michel Petrucciani began recording for Owl Records and struck up a friendship with the company's owner, Jean-Jacques Pussiau.

Pussiau felt that Michel Petrucciani always seemed to be in a hurry to record, which he attributed to Michel Petrucciani's own awareness that his life would be short.

Michel Petrucciani needed to go very far, as far as he could go, and that was California.

Michel Petrucciani travelled to the US, possibly stopping in New York on the way.

Michel 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 Michel 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 an historic evening in jazz history: the filming of One Night with Blue Note.

Michel Petrucciani moved to New York City in 1984 and spent the rest of his life there.

Michel Petrucciani played with diverse figures in the US jazz scene including Dizzy Gillespie.

Michel Petrucciani had five significant personal relationships: Erlinda Montano, Eugenia Morrison, Marie-Laure Roperch, the Italian pianist Gilda Butta and Isabelle Maile.

Michel Petrucciani was overworked, performing over 100 times per year, and in 1998, the year before he died, he performed 140 times.

Michel Petrucciani became too weak to use crutches and had to resort to a wheelchair.

Michel Petrucciani was recording, doing television appearances, and constantly doing interviews.

Michel Petrucciani died from a pulmonary infection a week after his 36th birthday.

Michel Petrucciani was interred in Le Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, one tomb away from Frederic Chopin.

The first two American albums featuring Michel Petrucciani were produced by Gabreal Franklin.

Michel Petrucciani was fiercely determined to take all the joy and satisfaction from life that he could.

Stylistically, Michel Petrucciani is most frequently compared to Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett for his lyricism and Oscar Peterson for his virtuosity.

Michel Petrucciani's playing was often quite dramatic; critics accuse him of over-indulgence and cheap showmanship, sometimes dismissing his music as being too accessible.

Michel Petrucciani was loose and playful in a rhythm section, and gave attention to a strong articulation of the melody.

Michel Petrucciani sometimes paused at the peaks of his solo lines before descending again, as if in appreciation of his idea.

Michel Petrucciani distinguished himself most obviously from his primary inspiration in that he lacked Bill Evans's cerebral approach to the piano.

Michel Petrucciani's interest was primarily in simply playing; he spent little time reharmonizing or arranging:.

Michel Petrucciani didn't look in the mirror and complain about what he saw.