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Jacky Terrasson, the most widely traveled of all jazz pianists, is the “piano player of happiness,” according to Telerama magazine in France. He is an exhilarating musician, one of those who play their public straight to euphoria. Born in Berlin, of an American mother and a French father, he grew up in Paris, France. He moved to America to study at Berklee College of Music, and in 1993, after winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk Award, he began touring with Betty Carter. He then decided to move to New York, where he still lives today.
One year later, Jacky was introduced in the New York Times Magazine as one of the 30 under 30 and signed with the Blue Note label. He made three initial trio recordings for Blue Note (Jacky Terrasson, Reach, and Alive). He then devoted himself to several collaborations: “Rendezvous”, with Cassandra Wilson, and “What it is”, with Michael Brecker and Mino Cinelu. Beginning in 2001, he recorded “A Paris” for Blue Note; a very personal interpretation of classics of French song “Smile,” (winning him Best Jazz Album of the Year); and finally a solo album, “Mirror.”
This Franco-American national has never stopped dazzling us, either by his prestigious collaborations with greats such as Dee Dee Bridgewater and Dianne Reeves, or with his minimalist and energetic music hammered out with drummer Leon Parker and bassist Ugonna Okegwo, in a trio that was considered one of the best jazz trios of the 90s. And this intuition, this instinct, this openness, leads him to the discovery of the great burgeoning talents of his many groups.
Terrasson has been compared to Bud Powell for his carefully controlled velocity on the piano keys and to Ahmad Jamal for his sense of phrasing. Jacky also possesses a deep knowledge of the great French composers savants, such as Ravel, Fauré and Debussy. Through his fingers, as he mingles and melts the colors and the inventions of the great pianists of yesterday and today, Jacky creates his own style, all in subtleties, freshness, facility and ease, with the desire to rewrite and reinvent, again, every day and forever.
In 2019, Jacky released "53,” a trio album (his favorite format), on Blue Note.