Metisse Music

Gouache

Label: Universal Music
Distribution in France: Universal Music
Release date: August 27, 2012

From the colours of the Caribbean to swing, from New York to the streets of Paris, from electric to acoustic and duet to quintet, this new album from Jacky Terrasson bubbles with life and energy, proving that his fieriness is still intact, and his appetite for music still entire. Two notable guests join him on this project, two French jazz figures with whom Jacky Terrasson has had nourishing exchanges over the years: clarinettist Michel Portal, his partner in many duet-concerts in recent times; and trumpeter Stéphane Belmondo.

Push

Label: Concord Jazz
Distribution in France: Universal
Release date: April 26, 2010

Jacky Terrasson’s new album features a new working trio that includes recent Thelonious Monk Competition winner Ben Williams on bass, Jamire Williams on drums and a handful of special guests . “It’s definitely a turning point for me,” says the Berlin-born, Paris-raised, New York-based master of the keys. “I’m with a new label, so that made it important to me to do things differently. I wanted another sound, and I wanted to explore what I’ve been going through personally over the last few years. There are different grooves, beats and vibe.” And like the album title suggests, the music is driven by an inherent thrust forward. Terrasson explains, “Push means to make things happen, to push into new directions. That’s what this album is all about.” Part of this advance includes the pianist making his vocal debut on two songs. “I know I’m not a singer,” he says. “But I’ve been hearing that in my head for years, so I figured why not.” He laughs and adds, “I pushed for it.” Push features seven new Terrasson compositions as well as a sampling of fresh spins on standards, including two Monk tunes and a Cole Porter beauty as well as a version of the timeless melody “Body and Soul” melded with “Beat It,” Michael Jackson’s Thriller hit.

Mirror

Label: Blue Note
Distribution in France: EMI
Release date: March 26, 2007

In jazz, the solo piano is an enormous endeavour. Six years ago, Jacky Terrasson prepared to record a solo CD; Jacky, the trio musician, the incomparable dancer on the keys of “Smile” (2002). He talked about it, he did concerts in trio and solo formation, prepared himself, postponed, time and again, the studio test. The examples are overwhelming: Monk whose “Thelonious himself” is probably the most beautiful one of all his records. Bill Evans, “Alone”, which makes you weep with emotion; and the Keith Jarrett, not that much his most well known, the “Köln Concert”, but rather the one before the last, “Radiance”, from 2002, masterful and inspired.

Those recordings, Jacky Terrasson mentions them when he talks about this " Mirror " which he decided to record, at the age of 42, adding right away that Jarrett records his solos in concert. The studio intimidates because you are alone with yourself. When he needs his audience, Jacky, it is not so much for what he receives but what he has the impression to give. The studio, so he says, has the effect of a mirror. He even thought about calling the CD Mirror Mirror, the mirror that reflects itself, fear of the void. Reassuringly, “Mirror” renders well the pianist that Jacky Terrasson is now. Narcissus just enough to love his own music, happy to play, in his body as much as in his head, certain to have acquired the necessary technical skill to make the piano sing, certain of his rhythm, and thus open to all that comes to mind inside him,

at the spur of the moment. (…) Jacky, the New Yorker, with a French father and an Afro-american mother has jazz as his only country, his only culture, his unlimited love. (…) This record was worth its wait, for so many just feelings, of bearing, of musical truth. Such a beautiful solitude.

(extract translated from a review by Michel Contat in Télérama, France)

Smile

Label: Capitol - CD 7243 5 42607 2 8
Distribution in France: EMI Music France
Release date: October 22, 2002

After the outstanding success of ” A PARIS ”, one of the best-selling jazz CDs across Europe, pianist Jacky Terrasson is back with a new trio release, his eighth recording for Blue Note and his first trio session since 1997. Inspired by the Charlie Chaplin song of the same title, “SMILE” sets a new milestone in this musician’s career. Jacky, who is of French and American origin uses all his cultural influences with ease and charm and achieves a beautiful musical amalgam… generous, lyrical, emotional, sensitive and sometimes tongue in cheek, the music reflects the qualities that make Jacky Terrasson one of the outstanding jazz musicians of his generation.

A Paris

Label: blue note
Release date: February 14, 2001

One of the biggest young talents of jazz, and also one of the most joyful musicians gracing our planet, has accomplished recording a set of songs that has been one of his pet projects over the last few years—a whole album dedicated to French melodies. “I have grown up with these melodies”, says the Franco-American pianist: “I have been wanting to link up with French culture because I really have one foot on each of the two sides of the Atlantic. Many artists have recorded some of these melodies, but few have had a whole album out—and I wanted this to be a jazz album”. “La Marseillaise” interpreted by Jacky and his musicians, “Que reste-il de nos amours”, “Jeux interdits”... but also some of Jacky’s own compositions in a very French vein make this new release a musical pleasure not to be missed (web site).