Skip to main content

Michel Petrucciani: His Artistic Legacy in our Shallow World


It seems lately that we are living in dark days. We turn on the computer or the news to hear political candidates saying the most cruel thing one can muster up. We are living in days of social media "friends" who in reality are not "friends" at all. People lie, cheat, steal, copy others and manipulate to get ahead. People bully on the internet, cowardly hiding behind a keyboard. Their little fingers clamoring away to compose a nasty tweet or message to make themselves feel more important. There is hate and rage and intolerance like we've never seen. There are people literally walking across continents because their homes were destroyed. I remember the Bosnian war in the 90's- the genocide, the mass graves, the heartbreaking images of elderly women walking ridiculous distances to find shelter and safety. It seems that history is repeating itself, but worse because the hatred and anger has spread via the internet, specifically social media, into our own houses. I find myself longing for simpler days.. days when we weren't so connected digitally and disconnected in reality.  


My old betacam editing days
I recently published my interview with director Paolo Genovese. It was one of the most moving interviews I've ever done because a few things he said to me really resonated. His strong eye contact and honest, direct answers made me confront a dream that I lost when I was young but his personal story of perseverance gave me hope that it's never too late. When we talked about music, he said "If you think about it, every one of us has a special song that we associate with a happy or sad moment of life." Today, as I longed for one of those happy moments of a simpler time, I thought back to the mid-90's when I worked as a video editor at CNN in San Francisco and then for ABC and CBS News in New York. It was a time of incredible discovery and fearless adventure.
I love art. I find it in just about everything.. from the cloud formation in the sky to the way my pasta water ferociously bubbles like lava when I add sea salt. In those mid-90's days, I searched for art through music and I found it so beautifully in a jazz musician named Michel Petrucciani.

 One of the of the most extraordinary jazz musicians of our time, Petrucciani was born in 1966 to an Italo-French family- his grandfather was from Naples. He spent nearly his entire life immersed in music. Petrucciani's father was a jazz guitarist in his own right, so Michel grew up surrounded by harmonies. He fell in love with the piano after seeing Duke Ellington on TV at the age of four. He immediately took up the instrument and before long, a prodigy was born, although he attributed his success to hard work rather than genius. He performed his first concert with trumpeter Clark Terry at the age of 13.

 Petrucciani suffered from a condition called, osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as "brittle bone disease". He grew to only three feet tall, and his fragile frame often caused his bones to break, sometimes even as he performed. That coupled with his wildly passionate style of playing was a constant physical challenge throughout his life. Although he may have been small in stature, his charismatic personality and talent for playing overshadowed any of his physical disabilities. He was known for getting lost in his electric piano solos and fierce improvisations as he shared the stage with some of the biggest names in the business including Charles Lloyd, Lee Konitz, Stéphane Grappelli and legendary drummer, Steve Gadd.


Petrucciani was in demand all over the world and enjoyed a prolific transatlantic career. Success also had its downfalls for the pianist and led to excessive drinking and drug use. He was always open about his tendency to overdo things and many people close to him have suggested that those wild ways led to his untimely death in 1999 at just 36-years-old.


A few years ago, I saw a documentary film made by Il Postino director Michael Radford. Body and Soul was a "Special Screenings" selection of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Described as "a non-judgmental portrait of an artist as a permanent young man", the documentary presents a down-to-earth artist with an absolute undeterred passion and enthusiasm for life. It also sheds light on the loves of his life and the many women he knew. In fact, several of his ex-girlfriends and wives are in the film and talk about his reputation for loving them and leaving them.
 
I found the film on YouTube and although much of the dialogue is in French, the images and music make the story easy to follow. Among the French dialogue is an explanation of his condition as we see x-rays showing the bone irregularitites. Then a voiceover explaining that while kids his age were playing sports, he was developing his talent and passion for music and would play all day long. I enjoyed Petrucciani's interviews and was especially impressed by his fluency in English and strong American accent. 


"Body and Soul" by Michel Redford..


 If you watch the film on YouTube, I recommend watching these clips beforehand so that you will have a better idea of what he was all about. Therefore, you won't feel like you're missing too much if you don't understand French. I also recommend picking up your favorite bottle of wine and just losing yourself in his music and story. These days, signing off for a few hours with a little wine and jazz can do us all some good.  

Pre-doc clips to watch:
Interviews –


Michel Petrucciani performs "Take the A Train" –



Piano Solo in Barcelona, 1989 (52 minutes)

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Conversation with Actor Mirko Frezza of David di Donatello Winner "Il più grande sogno"

The 2017 David di Donatello award show, which took place on Monday, was an exciting event that celebrated many great contemporary talents of Italian cinema.  I was fortunate to have seen most of the nominees.  Among my personal favorites  is Michele Vannucci's  Il più grande sogno  simply because it is based on one of the most inspiring, beautiful stories I've ever  heard, and the person behind that story is as authentic and down-to-earth as they come. The film won the 3 Future Award, which is determined by the public. With Director Michele Vannucci and Actor Mirko Frezza I first saw  Il più grande sogno last September when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. I didn't make it to Venice, but thanks to a great online platform called Festival Scope , which offers a handful of premieres to be screened on the web, I felt like I was there. The film itself blew me away, and then when I realized it was based on a true story, I knew t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Timeless Talent of Stefania Sandrelli

On screen since the tender age of 14, she has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with a compelling combination of strength and vulnerability. She achieved stardom at just 14 years old playing the angelic cousin of a love-struck Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style.” More than half a century later, she is still going strong and remains one of Italy’s most esteemed actors. Stefania Sandrelli was born on June 5, 1946, in Viareggio in the province of Lucca in northern Italy. As a child, she studied music and dance. Then in 1960, she won a beauty pageant and was featured on the cover of Le Ore magazine. Her purity captivated the country and shortly thereafter, movie offers began pouring in. Just one year later, she made her cinema debut in three feature films: Mario Sequi’s Gioventù di notte , Luciano Salce’s The Fascist, and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style . She instantly became a star and before long was a key figure in Italy’s legend...
Post a Comment
Read more

Film at Lincoln Center honors Monica Vitti with retrospective featuring restored classics

Photo Courtesy of Archivio Luce-Cinecitt à A retrospective dedicated to the films of Italian cinema icon Monica Vitti will be held from June 6 to June 19 at Lincoln Center in New York City.  The 14-film series, titled "Monica Vitti: La Modernista," is presented by Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà and marks the first North American retrospective celebrating Vitti's 35-year career. "We are pleased to partner with Cinecittà to celebrate one of Italy's most revered actresses," said Film at Lincoln Center Vice President of Programming Florence Almozini. "It is a privilege to present decades' worth of films from Monica Vitti's illustrious and prolific career, especially with many restored versions of her legendary works." Monica Vitti, a key figure in film history, began her career in the mid-1950s and quickly became a captivating presence on screen. Her collaboration with director Michelangelo Antonioni produced memorable films in the 196...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Sweetness and Genius of Giulietta Masina

Fellini and Masina on the set of "La Strada" As open-hearted and sunny as Federico Fellini was dark and complex, they were perfect counterpoints during a half-century of marriage and professional collaboration.  Nicknamed a  “female Chaplin” and described by Chaplin himself as  the actress who moved him most,  Giulietta Masina confronted the tragedy of her characters with an eternal innocence and enthusiasm that gave Italians hope in the most challenging of times.  Born in 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La...
Post a Comment
Read more

Golden Age Masterpiece: Luchino Visconti’s 1957 “White Nights”

Photo Credit: Archivio Luce Cinecittà Luchino Visconti’s 1957 film, “White Nights” (“Le notti bianche”), offers a thoughtful and poignant exploration of themes such as loneliness, desire and emotional vulnerability. Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella of the same name, it transports the tale from 19th-century St. Petersburg to a dreamy mid-20th-century Italian setting. While Visconti remains largely faithful to Dostoevsky’s narrative, his characteristic style infuses the film with emotional depth, striking visuals, and a focus on class and societal constraints.   The story follows a young man named Matteo, played by Marcello Mastroianni, who lives a solitary life in a small Italian town. One evening, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Natalia, portrayed by Austrian-Swiss actress Maria Schell, who is also feeling isolated. Although she is initially reluctant, Natalia eventually confides in Matteo about her love for a man who has promised to return and marry her, but he ha...
Post a Comment
Read more