On Michel Petrucciani

Adamant in his refusal to let his glass bones disease define who he was and what he could do, Michel Petrucciani, the three feet tall jazz pianist from France, was larger than life. Determined to become a jazz giant, he went to America to pursue his dream when he was only 18. In the land of opportunity, he met jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, who was so impressed by his genius that he stopped retiring to take him under his wing.

Even though his bones were always fracturing, the music prodigy pushed the pain into the recesses of his mind and played the piano with gusto and lyrical flair, garnering him comparisons to his idol Bill Evans. With collaborators such as Wayne Shorter and Jim Hall, Petrucciani was the first musician from Europe signed by Blue Note. Before his untimely demise at the age of 36, building a jazz school in France was in the works as it was his dream to save the dying art.

Wayne Shorter put Petrucciani's stoicism succinctly, “There’s a lot of people walking around, full-grown and so-called normal—they have everything that they were born with at the right leg length, arm length, and stuff like that. They’re symmetrical in every way, but they live their lives like they are armless, legless, brainless, and they live their life with blame. I never heard Michel complain about anything. Michel didn’t look in the mirror and complain about what he saw. Michel was a great musician—a great musician—and great, ultimately, because he was a great human being because he had the ability to feel and give to others of that feeling, and he gave to others through his music.”

Petrucciani didn’t just live – he thrived in the face of adversity. He said, "My philosophy is to have a really good time and never let anything stop me from doing what I want to do.” Winners never whine.

Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" performed by Michel Petrucciani