Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series 49 : Alter Ego

Description

The idea was simple: to rededicate the two freshly renovated Steinway D pianos in the legendary Studio 15 of RTS - Radio Télévision Suisse in Lausanne. After a concert broadcast live, featuring fifteen piano duos, a new idea emerged: to produce a special recording session with a single pianist, faced with the daunting task of playing duos with previously recorded tracks of himself. To add a bit of “tension” to the event, it was decided to make this moment a “live” studio recording, with forty spectators present as close as possible to the action, listening on headphones to the pianist playing live a spontaneous duo with his pre-recorded alter ego. All that remained was to find that rare gem, a pianist with enough poetry, boldness, and creativity to take on a challenge that would inevitably bring to mind Bill Evans’s Conversations with Myself — a legendary project that, in 1963, made a lasting impression with its innovative, sensitive, and deeply personal character. That is how Marc Copland entered the scene, a legendary jazz pianist and composer of our time. His finesse and depth, highlighted in Alter Ego, as well as his delicate and thoughtful approach to the instrument, make this recording sublime. It is a must-have for any jazz lover’s library.