Photograph: Magnum PLAYING FOR TIME An international cast of jazz veterans will be gracing the stage at the London Jazz Festival this month, including Sonny Rollins, Martial Solal, Herbie Hancock and Juliette Gréco. Graeme Green is delighted to find that their passion for music remains undimmed and is inspiring a whole new generation of young stars Martial Solal plays a quick run of bassy piano notes over the phone from his house in the south of France. “I was just practising before you called,” he says in a rich French accent. “I’ve practised every day since I was a boy.” That might not sound too big a deal until you realise Solal started playing when he was six years old and recently celebrated his 83rd birthday, which means more than 28,000 days of practising. No wonder he’s considered to be France’s greatest pianist. Solal is just one of an international cast of jazz veterans who are performing at this year’s London Jazz Festival. Others include Herbie Hancock, Juliette Gréco, Cleo Laine and saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins. He’s still best known, perhaps, for his soundtrack to Jean Luc Godard’s 1960 debut fi lm, À bout de souffl e. “That soundtrack was a big part of bringing me to a larger audience,” he recalls. “When you write music for a fi lm, you immediately look like somebody more serious.” But he’s not one for looking backwards, and the dexterous, quick-witted playing on his recent Live in Vienna recording shows he’s still, physically and mentally, very much got the chops. While many might associate jazz with the fi eriness and energy of youth, Solal says he’s only 90 METROPOLITAN Le London Jazz Festival est l’occasion de rendre hommage à des pointures du genre, tout en découvrant les nouveaux talents Martial Solal m’accueille par quelques notes de piano, quand je l’appelle dans sa maison du Midi. « J’étais en plein exercice, explique-t-il avec un fort accent français. Je m’exerce tous les jours depuis que je suis petit. » On pourrait être tenté de rétorquer « Et alors ? »… si ce n’est que Martial Solal a commencé le piano à l’âge de six ans et qu’il a récemment souffl é ses 83 bougies. Soit plus de 28 000 jours de pratique. Qui s’étonnera alors qu’il fasse fi gure de plus grand pianiste de France ? Solal partage l’affi che du London Jazz Festival <strong>2010</strong> avec d’autres vétérans comme Herbie Hancock, Juliette Gréco, Paolo Conte, Cleo Laine et Sonny Rollins, le « géant du saxo ». La bande originale du premier fi lm de Jean-Luc Godard, À bout de souffl e, en 1960, est toujours son travail le plus connu. « Cette B.O. m’a permis d’accéder à un public plus large : quand vous faites la musique d’un fi lm, on vous prend immédiatement plus au sérieux, reconnaît-il. » Mais la nostalgie, très peu pour lui : son récent Live à Vienne, vif et agile, montre qu’il conserve un physique et un mental de sportif. Beaucoup associent au jazz la fougue et l’énergie de la jeunesse ; Solal, lui, pense au contraire qu’il s’est bonifi é avec le temps : « J’étais sûrement doué quand j’étais jeune, mais j’ai travaillé dur et je me suis beaucoup amélioré. French jazz master Martial Solal Martial Solal, doyen du jazz français
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