Martial Solal

In trio format
Aigue Marine (Jazz à Gaveau, 1962)
A beautiful Solal theme

Jazz Frit – (Martial Solal Trio, 1965)
The name of this tune is a joke about free jazz ("frit" and "free" have the same pronunciation in french ; "jazz frit" means "fried jazz")
Solal never really liked free jazz, he likes harmony and rythm too much for that. But it doesn't mean that he can't improvise freely (meaning with a great liberty). Impromptulm (see below) is a good example, solos 2, 3 etc of Jazz Frit are another :)

Navigation (Longitude, 2008)
Great tune composed by Martial Solal. Rather complex rhythm inside. Theme + unfinished transcription of the solo

Piano Solo
Fascinating Rhythm (Nothing But Piano, 1976) (Video)
I realised that I was mostly transcribing relatively slow Solal tunes, mainly because they are the ones I can hope to play (I don't). So I challenged myself to transcribe the fastest tune I've heard, and I wasn't disappointed: 350 BPM is the fastest tempo I've encountered! It's less than three minutes, but wow, there's so much going on!

Night in Tunisa (live from 1976) (Video)

Lick from Parisian thoroughfare (Martial Solal and Stéphane Grapelli, Happy reunion, 1980)

Impromptulm (Best of live, 1985) A "free" improvisation (it's not free jazz, just improvising freely !)

Ballade (Martial Solal Improvise pour France Musique, 1995 (Video) A strangely beautiful ballad, with a beautiful theme, first rubato, then in 3/4. The solo is crazy.

Que reste-t-il de nos amours/I whis you love (Jazz 'n (e)motion, 1998)
Charles Trénet' song, as played by Martial

On green dolphin street (Live at the Village Vanguard, 2008)
I LOVE Solal's playing. I'm rather suprised to see how close he is from the theme, both melodically and harmonically, and how inventive he is in his way to play standarts.

Centre de Gravité (Live at the Village Vanguard, 2008)
A mysterious composition by Martial Solal.

Marche Turque (Turkish March) (My One and Only Love (Live at Theater Gütersloh), 2018)
A very playful improvisation on this famous Mozart song.
VIDEO HERE

'Round Midnight (Live on Ottobrunn, 2018)
From the penultimate concert of the French master, here is an impressive set of variations on 'Round Midnight. He was then 95 years old, and still he has an idea every second, it's absolutely amazing!
VIDEO HERE

My One and Only Love (My One and Only Love (Live at Theater Gütersloh), 2018)
VIDEO HERE

Happy Birthday (Coming Yesterday : Live at Salle Gaveau 2019, 2021)
A very funny and impressive set of variations on this traditional song, from Solal's very last piano solo concert.
VIDEO HERE