1987 · Album
Power of Three
Recorded Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1986 · Concord Jazz
Three Voices in the Festival Night
Petrucciani meets Hall and Shorter at Montreux, and something immediate and alive happens.
In 1986 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Michel Petrucciani sat down with Jim Hall and Wayne Shorter to play. This was not a carefully constructed studio session with multiple takes and overdubs — it was live, in front of an audience, with the kind of spontaneity that comes from musicians who trust each other enough to follow wherever the music leads. The album captures both the duets between Petrucciani and Hall, where the pianist's restless energy meets the guitarist's lyrical understatement, and three trio performances where Shorter's saxophone joins them. These aren't trophy recordings designed to showcase virtuosity for its own sake. Instead, what emerges is conversation — genuine musical dialogue where each player listens and responds, leaving space, building ideas together. For listeners already familiar with Petrucciani's work, this stands as a solid middle-ground record: neither a breakthrough nor a curiosity, but evidence of an artist who could hold his own alongside musicians of real stature. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, which feels about right — good enough to return to, particular enough that it rewards attention, but not one of those albums that rewrites how you hear jazz. If you're exploring Petrucciani's catalog, this works best after you've heard him in other contexts, because what matters here is less his individual voice and more how he listens.
Who's playing
Where next?
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
