Patrick Scheyder: Improvisations à l'improviste

Patrick Scheyder - Napolitaine
Patrick Scheyder - Dernier Chant
From Solo Piano II: Leo CDLR 362 [Buy Here]

French pianist Patrick Scheyder is equally at home intepreting Chopin or playing in improvised settings. Scheyder has even recorded with Evan Parker (Evan Parker and Patrick Scheyder, Leo CDLR326) and vocalist Lauren Newton (Altered Egos, Omba Records OMBA-004CD). However, these two selections are the opening and closing tracks from Scheyder's album of solo piano improvisations, Solo Piano II.

Patrick Scheyder

We are generally used to improv bandits emerging from a jazz background, so what is perhaps most interesting about this record is hearing how a musician approaches improvisation when they are grounded (and still active) in the classical tradition. When one's reference points are Schubert and Rachmaninoff rather than Monk and Coltrane, the music is going to sound different, and this record is an excellent illustration.

I picked up this CD as a castoff from a friend who gets hundreds of CDs each year to review. I held onto it for two reasons: firstly, I found the opening song, Napolitaine, immediately fascinating, and secondly, the album was recorded in Guebwiller in Alsace, just 15 minutes up the road from where I used to live in France.