High Life

HIGH LIFE #11 Aug 2017 79 The two great French musicians first played a concert together in Paris 30 years ago, but hadn’t crossed paths professionally again until they were reunited here in Macau. Though they haven’t played together for years, the two experienced musicians still decided to improvise their way through the concert, which means there was no rehearsal, no program or even a performing song list. “It’s something we both wanted,” Luc told High Life in the leadup to this unique performance. “When you’re on the stage, preparation is not good. We never had any rehearsal, ever, not one second.” “We decided to improvise from the start, because we both love improvisation," added Pilc. “And it’s rare we can find partners where it can work. For a guitar concert, it is the first time for me.” “The beautiful thing in jazz when you have the right partners, I feel like, ‘Ah yes, just like this.’ It’s hard to explain how it works, but it works. When you’re playing great music, that’s how you feel – just one thing and you’re a part of that thing. How great it is. So you don’t need to prepare for that.” Though both great jazz musicians, the paths Luc and Pilc took through the jazz world were very different. Luc was born in 1965 and started playing guitar at the age of four. He later practiced violin, then studied cello for 10 years at the Bayonne Conservatory. By contrast, as a selftaught pianist Pilc’s formal education was scientific and technical. Graduating from École Polytechnique, the French equivalent of MIT, he worked as an engineer for three years on a television satellite project in Toulouse before quitting in 1988 and devoting himself to his passion, the piano. Now he’s an Associate Professor at The Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal and has been teaching at New York University for 10 years.