“A Piano at Hand” by Pascal Neveu

His APPROACH

It’s a child’s dream come true. Pascal Neveu confesses indeed, that as a child, every time he discovered a new beautiful place, outside in the nature, the first thought always coming to his mind was how wonderful it would be to play music there.

Later on, after performing several indoor concerts, he finally decided to take his piano outside to perform free open-air concerts. The first immediate advantage was that it allowed a larger public – which cannot always afford jazz clubs’ fees, to (re)discover piano, improvised music, and jazz.

Today, Pascal Neveu manages 3 complementary actions: the stage, the open-air, and also some large scale amplified outdoor projects (Mountain, National Parks, Castles…)
His BIOGRAPHY

Raised in a family of classical musicians over several generations, Pascal Neveu starts learning piano as soon as he was 4. At 7, he enters the music Academy before becoming the pupil of the contemporary music composer, J. Richer.
Very quickly, he starts composing his own classical pieces, all by himself (preludes, 4 hands, 2 pianos…). But as his talent takes shape, he begins to feel too limited within the borders imposed by strict classical composition. Before long, he will try and experiment new approaches of improvisation, naturally then heading for jazz.
As if at the exact right moment, he discovers 3 musicians, whose approaches of improvisation will confirm and strengthen his musical orientations: Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk, and Cecil Taylor. He will, however, never obliterate his attachment to Sergueï Rachmaninov’s music.
His ENCOUNTERS

During a concert of René Urtreger, Pascal Neveu asked him if he would let him play a piece. Once his improvisation complete, René Urtreger honoured him with this remark: “Sir, if that really was all improvisation, you are a very talented person!”
At the Festival Jazz In Marciac 2007,  he also met Brad Mehldau, who told him: “You are the musician who plays outside ? I listened to your music, it’s very nice! I’ll listen to your CD.”