Pianist
Jacky Terrasson's 2012 album
Gouache is an eclectic, playful, and often beautiful album that showcases the pianist's lithe, technically adept jazz skills alongside a handful of guest artists.
Terrasson is a gifted composer and improviser in a variety of jazz idioms, from straight-ahead, standards-based jazz to more contemporary and even avant-garde styles. He brings all of this to bear on
Gouache. While
Terrasson's virtuosic piano chops are the focal point of the release, it is also his choice of excellent sidemen here, including trumpeter
Stephane Belmondo and bass clarinetist
Michel Portal, that helps make the album such a buoyant and joyful listen. This is especially true on his ruminative version of
John Lennon's "Oh My Love" and the positively swoon-inducing
Erik Satie chanson "Je Te Veux," which both feature vocalist
Cecile McLorin Salvant. Winner of the 2010
Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition,
Salvant is a gifted, nuanced singer and here, singing in both French and English, she draws upon the languid, bittersweet influence of
Billie Holiday, while always keeping a smile in her voice. Jazz pianists reworking modern pop songs has become de rigueur in 21st century jazz circles, and so
Terrasson's choice to cover
Lennon, as well as such radio hits as
Justin Bieber's "Baby" and
Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," isn't in-and-of-itself unique. However, with his painterly, impressionistic style that often brings to mind a mix of such influences as
Keith Jarrett and
Chick Corea,
Terrasson is an interesting match for this kind of pop repurposing, and his reinventions never sound anything but clever and inspired. To these ends, he turns "Baby" into a jaunty sleigh ride of song, with a euphoric '70s R&B ballad midsection. He also gives "Rehab" a slow,
Horace Silver-sounding jazz-funk treatment that finds him moving from piano to Fender Rhodes. Elsewhere,
Terrasson's original compositions reveal a passion for melody and groove, paired with an adventurous, flowing, stream-of-consciousness post-bop aesthetic that ultimately makes
Gouache a pure joy to hear. ~ Matt Collar
