53

Album review

His fifteenth album is called 53! “Why 53? Simply because I wrote and recorded this music during my 53 rd year, and on this occasion I wanted to make a record that really reflected me. At the age of 53, a man begins to feel he has reached a form of maturity, he is at his peak, and so can look at life with hindsight and see things more clearly. With this record I wanted to give everything of myself, to take risks, while assuming my career, my artistic choices, my life … and my age!” Jacky Terrasson perfectly follows that roadmap on this 15th album as a leader in his 30-year career...

Though this time around, the master of covers (“This way that I have to totally take over a piece by passing it through a formal and stylistic deconstruction process that renews how you see the piece. I have always loved indulging in this kind of transformation, it is like my signature in a way.”) opts for his own compositions. We find sixteen tracks that are deliberately shaped like songs and magnified by dense and precise arrangements. Capable of both pyrotechnic flamboyancy and delicate touches, the brilliant Terrasson fills his album with nods towards his idols. We find influences from Keith Jarrett in the aptly named Kiss Jannett for Me, and Ahmad Jamal on the opening of The Call. He also alternates between groovy sounds on the very pop-like This is Mine (after Charlie Chaplin’s theme Smile) and lyrical touches with the ballad La Part des anges. Jacky Terrasson even quotes Mozart on Lacrimosa with an excerpt from his Requiem. Such eclecticism!


So as to highlight this kaleidoscopic richness even more, he offers up several rhythmic sections: Géraud Portal/Ali Jackson, Sylvain Romano/Gregory Hutchinson and Thomas Bramerie/Lukmil Perez. A diversity that gives concrete form to the different facets of his compositions. This could well be one of Jacky Terrasson’s greatest records... © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz