Michel Camilo

Review:

This is the one hundred seventy-eighth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.

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One of the top jazz pianists of the past 40 years, Michel Camilo has superb technique, always swings, and plays solos that are consistently full of surprises and joy.

Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, he began seriously playing the piano when he was nine (after a period on the accordion), studied classical piano, was performing with the National Symphony Orchestra when he was 16, and turned to jazz after hearing an Art Tatum record.

Camilo moved to the United States in 1979 and in 1983 began a longtime association with Paquito D’Rivera, recording his first album as a leader in 1985 and having a minor hit with his original “Why Not?”

Since that time, Michel Camilo has toured the world many times, recorded a few dozen albums, and performed at a countless number of concerts, usually at the head of his trio.

Along the way he has played with the who’s who of jazz (including Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Stanley Turrentine, Mongo Santamaria, Jaco Pastorius, and Wynton Marsalis) or, more accurately, they have had the pleasure of playing with him.

On his LiveStream from May 4, 2020, Michel Camilo has fun tearing into “St. Thomas” which sets the stage for a series of often-stunning performance that the pianist makes look so easy, smiling the whole time.

He gives the impression that, like Art Tatum, he can play anything on the piano that he thinks of, including a romantic ballad and the bouncy Nat King Cole song “The Frim Fram Sauce”; this LiveStream gives one a strong sampling of his brilliance.

– Scott Yanow