Multi-faceted pianist and composer Jean-Michel Pilc embraces spontaneity in his first live album Alive – Live at Dièse Onze, Montréal.
In the Montreal-based artist’s first release with Justin Time Records, the live recording features drummer Rémi-Jean LeBlanc and bassist Jim Doxas as they join Pilc onstage for an energetic set, testing the limits of the trio’s vast improvisational abilities.
“Since a while ago, all my concerts are totally improvised — no set list, nothing prepared, just let the music lead the way,” Pilc says. “I come on stage as a newborn, ready for a new life, a new journey, a new experience every time. My bandmates are part of that experience as much as I am myself, every note they play becomes part of this life we are living together on the stage.”
The concert was recorded in June of 2021, marking the trio’s first performance since the beginning of the pandemic. It features two of Pilc’s original compositions along with reinterpretations of iconic songs including Miles Davis’s Nardis and All Blue, the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby and John Coltrane’s Mr. P.C.
