Martial Solal timed everything well.  He composed the score of “Breathless” (A Bout de Souffle) for Jean Luc Godard in 1959.  It has remained an iconic film that is still viewed across the world.  As a result, the royalties from the film have given Solal a secure income.  The other piece of timing was choosing to retire before his phenomenal technique was degraded by time.  His final concert at Salle Gaveau in Paris was on January 23, 2019. Solal was 91.

The first time that I saw Solal was part of the early days of the Camden Jazz Festival; it was in the Shaw Theatre, now part of Pullman Hotel in London’s Euston Road.  Shocking that it was a very sparse audience at the concert.  Over the years the audiences for Solal grew and he played at Wigmore Hall, The Barbican, and King’s Place.

Quite simply, Solal was one of the very greatest jazz pianists.  His technique and his musical imagination were both breathtaking.  His love of the great composers: Duke Ellington. Richard Rodgers, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and the twentieth century classical masters illuminated his playing.

Surprise is a key ingredient of Solal’s music.  Dave Liebman who made two albums with Solal was constantly surprised by the tangents, deconstructions and the routes that Solal took through the melodies. His ingenuity and elusiveness made it difficult for a partner. His oblique approach, his fragmented use of themes was designed to challenge. Liebman has confessed that at times in their first meetings he felt overwhelmed.  It was probably like having a conversation with someone who is not only more articulate but charges his conversation with satire, jokes, irony and strange twists and new directions.

Solal seemed to love the challenges that other players presented.  After all, he recorded albums with Sidney Bechet, Stephane Grappelli, Johnny Griffin, Hampton Hawes, Max Roach, Lee Konitz, Django Reinhardt and Kenny Clarke.

As a composer, Solal won the Jazzpar prize in 1999 for his big band compositions. His Dodecaband played stimulating versions of great jazz pieces.

However, Solal was at his best when he played solo, when the full majesty of his improvisations could be experienced. Solal playing solo frees his imagination.  He was a superb editor, he cut and shaped exploring different facets of a melody. He has an almost infinite number of ways of delivering a theme and extending his ideas. His main concern was to develop and resolve his musical arguments without the indulgence of empty virtuoso displays. Sometimes the melody is hidden and then it will appear as if by accident.  Real improvisation and spontaneity are not as common in jazz as many think, perhaps because it is difficult.  Solal does improvise and his kind of improvisation is quite rare in jazz. Musical intelligence is at the core of what he does and out of that comes the sound of surprise.

Solal said about his playing: “You have to have very strong technique, as well as spirit and creativity. If you have built up technique, your mind allows you to go further. I do all that practice so that I know my fingers will follow my thoughts. If I can’t do that – I prefer to stay at home”.

With Solal there was always a pact with the audience.  The Solal audience needs to listen intently, needs to know the standards well, in order to appreciate how radical, daring and ingenious his recomposition is.  It is probably true to say that such an audience is not as common as it was.

Cerebral, not emotional, deeply intelligent, intensely musical, witty with ideas proliferating endlessly, Solal’s work is among the peaks of recorded piano jazz. His virtuosity is without parallel.  The technique was dazzling, his work was never formulaic, the ideas poured out and the variations never failed to astound. He was unique.

Albums

Martial Solal – Solo Piano (Los Angeles sessions)  (Fresh Sound Recordings)
Martial Solal – Live At Salle Gaveau 2019 (Challenge Recordings)
Martial Solal – Live in Ottobrunn  (GLM Muic)
Martial Solal / Dave Liebman – Masters in Bordeaux  (Sunnyside Records)
Martial Solal / Johnny Grifin – In and OUT (Dreyfus Recordings)
Bechet / Solal – When a Soprano Meets a Piano (Inner City Records)
Martial Solal – Live At The Village Vanguard  (Cam Jazz)
Lee Konitz / Martial Solal – Star Eyes (HatHut Records)
Martial Solal – Improvise Pour France Musique (JMS Records)
Martial Solal – Nothing But Piano  (MPS Records)