Eric Legnini - PianoForte (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/88]

Eric Legnini first made his mark in the mid-1990s as the young, discreet but highly talented pianist of the Stefano Di Battista quartet. His piano was a perfect foil for the fiery and voluble alto saxophonist. His open, generous style springs directly from the dark heart of jazz : rich phrasing, refined and sensual, always marrying itself effortlessly to the melody and the vocal. An exceptional talent for swing, grounded in a rigor and sobriety in his rhythmic placing worthy of the great masters of the hard bop. It was not long before Legnini became the grounding element amongst the disparate temperaments of the Di Battista quartet, as well as one of the most requested sidemen of the Rue des Lombards set.

Ten years have passed since his arrival on the international jazz scene—ten years during which the pianist has thrown himself heart and soul into a maelstrom of projects, while never ceasing to place his talent at the disposal of others. Today, at 35, Legnini has reached full stylistic maturity, and has decided to celebrate by finally stepping out of the sidelines with Miss Soul, his first major album on a French label. It is an opportunity to enable a wider public to enjoy his rich seductive musical universe, and his totally original way of marrying tradition and modernity, artistic savvy and popular expression. A chance to discover (or rediscover) a great musician.

Eric Legnini was born in Belgium, on February 20th, 1970. He passed a childhood immersed in Bach and Puccini. In the beginning of the 1980s, the discovery of an Erroll Garner album revealed an entirely new musical horizon, especially when it came to keyboards. With his exceptional ear for music, he tinkered with these strange harmonies seized on the fly and quickly fell under the spell of jazz—Eric had found his means of expression.

In 1987, he encountered, one of the major figures of Belgian and European jazz, saxophonist Jacques Pelzer, who invited him to perform a duo with him, then to join his band. It was a decisive point in his career that helped the young pianist deepen his knowledge and widen his repertoire of standards and thrust him into the ranks of the most promising young sidemen on the Belgian jazz scene. He was then recording his first album as principal performer on the Igloo label, Essentials, when he suddenly decided to go study in the US. It was 1988, and Eric was barely eighteen.

TRACKLIST

1. PianoForte - Poinciana
2. PianoForte - Celia
3. PianoForte - Águas de Março
4. PianoForte - The Windup
5. PianoForte - Um Anjo
6. PianoForte - Butterfly
7. PianoForte - Ecaroh
8. PianoForte - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
9. PianoForte - Chorinho
10. PianoForte - Ecaroh
11. PianoForte - Um Anjo



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