You could certainly make a case for pianist Michel Petrucciani being the most important French jazz musician of the last 50 years. He collaborated with many American greats – Charles Lloyd, Jim Hall, Wayne Shorter, Joe Lovano, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Steve Gadd, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes – and developed one of the most recognisable sounds on his instrument; bright, brave and industrious.

Born in Orange on 28 December 1962, the son of a French mother and Sicilian father, Petrucciani had osteogenesis imperfecta – otherwise known as “glass bones” – from birth, and never stood more than three feet tall. 

But he was blessed to be born into a very musical family – he gravitated first towards his guitarist father’s love of Wes Montgomery, whose solos he learnt by heart. But showing immediate talent on the piano, Michel studied classical music for eight years, and then toured with his dad’s band around the south of France. 

As his reputation grew, drummer/impresario Aldo Romano persuaded Michel’s father to let the young tyro record his debut album in Paris alongside JF Jenny Clark on bass. It was a big hit, showcasing a stunning amalgamation of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Lennie Tristano. 

By the age of 18, Michel was tiring of the European jazz scene, so travelled to California with a friend who introduced him to Charles Lloyd. He ended up staying with Charles at Big Sur for about a month, playing with the sax legend every day. They toured Europe and won the Prix D’Excellence for their performance at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival.

So when Bruce Lundvall reignited Blue Note Records in 1984, Petrucciani was right on his radar and became one of his first signings. Michel appeared with Lloyd at the famous “One Night With Blue Note” gig at New York City’s Town Hall on 22 February 1985, soon after making the city his home (later in the decade, interviewer Ben Sidran was amazed at Petrucciani’s enormous presence and greeting of “Hey, brother, what’s happenin’?”, a combination of “New York hustle and French elan”).

“Power Of Three” was Michel’s second Blue Note album, recorded on 14 July 1986 at Montreux by David Richards, best known for his work with David Bowie and Queen. He was joined by guitarist Jim Hall, wearing smart jacket and tie, who had already played with Michel’s trio over the previous six months, and a strikingly youthful-looking Wayne Shorter who had already performed at the festival with his quartet.

Of course the first notable aspect of “Power Of Three” is the lack of a bassist and drummer. An enormous amount of tonal space is up for grabs. At any given moment Hall or Petrucciani are tasked with taking over “time-keeping” duties via vamps or motifs, and they do this with enormous aplomb; you won’t find any speeding up or slowing down here.

The album kicks off with Shorter’s gently swinging “Limbo”, which first appeared on Miles Davis’s 1967 album “Sorcerer”. The composer delights with a muscular tenor solo, before Hall’s immaculate chord comping sends Petrucciani off into single-note heaven, full of surprises.

Hall’s “Careful” follows, a duet with Petrucciani, originally recorded with Jimmy Guiffre in 1959. It’s a tasty, Latin-flavoured modal blues. Hall revels in his tune’s obscure harmonies while Michel again supplies rock-solid vamping and creative soloing.

The pianist’s pretty and memorable “Morning Blues” is a delight for anyone who loves Shorter’s soprano sax playing. It’s unsentimental, thrilling, with a mastery of octaves and vibrato only added when absolutely necessary. It’s a great companion piece to Shorter’s playing on Weather Report’s “Face On The Barroom Floor” from the previous year, and may even remind some listeners of Sidney Bechet.

The album finishes with two epics: a lovely take on Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood”, introduced by romantic, rich, rubato Petrucciani solo, and Hall’s “Bimini”, a delightful Sonny Rollins-inspired calypso written especially for this gig. 

According to a 1987 interview in Musician magazine, Shorter came up with the album title “Power Of Three”, inspired by his love of science fiction. And we must mention Henry Marquez’s lovely cover design too, which looks particularly impressive on vinyl.

Petrucciani would go on to record six further albums for Blue Note as leader, and he reunited with Shorter on the fine “Manhattan Project” supergroup album of 1990 which also featured Stanley Clarke and Lenny White.

He lived his extraordinary and short life to the full. He apparently spent New Year’s Eve 1998 celebrating with friends at New York’s Village Vanguard until the early hours, but died just a week later on 6 January 1999 at the age of 36.

_{Header Image: Klein Stephane I Getty Images}

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Matt Phillips is a London-based writer and musician whose work has appeared in Jazzwise, Classic Pop, Record Collector and The Oldie. He’s the author of “John McLaughlin: From Miles & Mahavishnu to the 4th Dimension” and “Level 42: Every Album, Every Song”.

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