Jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani, a child prodigy born with a bone disease that stunted his growth but nurtured his lifelong interest in music, died at a Manhattan hospital on Wednesday. He was 36.

Petrucciani was being treated at Beth Israel Medical Center for a lung infection when he died.

Petrucciani began playing the piano at age of four after watching Duke Ellington perform on TV. The secret of his success, he said, was his disease. ''Instead of playing soccer outside with the kids, I spent a lot of time at home practicing on the piano because of my physical handicap,'' he said. ''I could stay in front of the piano for five or six hours a day instead of an hour, and it all adds up over the years.''

Born with osteogenesis imperfecta, or ''glass bone disease,'' Petrucciani, a native of France who moved to the United States in 1981, lived a fragile existence. He stood only 3ft tall and his pianos were equipped with custom-built pedal extensions. He frequently had to be carried to and from the piano bench because his bones were so fragile.

Though American jazz legends including Bill Evans were his spiritual muses, Petrucciani credits much of his success to his father, jazz guitarist Antoine Petrucciani.

Petrucciani made his professional debut at 13 at an outdoor jazz festival in France, playing alongside American trumpeter Clark Terry. Petrucciani said Clark's initial reaction was to tease him because of his size, playing children's songs like Frere Jacques.

But the teasing stopped as soon as Petrucciani began to play, and the two became friends.

Petrucciani was also responsible for coaxing saxophonist Charles Lloyd out of retirement. He played with Lloyd's band for three years before moving to New York.

He recorded more than a dozen albums, making his first, Flash, at age 16. In addition to Promenade With Duke, a homage to Ellington, he made a number of albums for the Blue Note recording label, including Pianism (1986), Michel Plays Petrucciani (1988), and The Best of Michel Petrucciani - The Blue Note Years (1994), a compilation of his seven years with the label. His most recent albums were produced and distributed under the French label, Dreyfus Jazz.

His style had been compared to the late Bill Evans, combining technical mastery, talented improvisation, and a romantic sense of harmony.

Born in Orange, France, and raised in Montelimar, Petrucciani moved to the US in 1981 as his fame began spreading in Europe. He lived in Big Sur, California, for several years before moving to New York to form his own trio and ''to hear more music''.

He also owned a house in a Paris suburb, near his two sons from a past relationship. His current companion, who was not immediately identified, was with him when he died. They have a four-year-old son, Alexandre.