collaborations

damien jourdan

We lived a few miles apart without knowing it. We finally meet at a mutual friend’s house and exchange our records. Seduced by his universe, I express my desire to work on his new songs. Damien writes his lyrics and music, sometimes close to Bashung or Dominique A. Seduced in turn by my arrangements, he entrusted me with the keys of his new album (after Nicolas Repac for the previous one). “Je regarde le ciel” was released in 2017 and the adventure continues on stage as a quartet.

benoît renard

Another example of an improbable encounter between two ex-parisians. Also residing on Grignan for several years, the director (and pianist) Benoît Renard approached me one day and said to me: “the first concert I saw at 15 years old was with your band”. Friendship and mutual esteem for our work, one thing leading to another, Benoît dresses my recent projects with magnificent images. On the other hand, I make a few notes on his films as soon as the opportunity arises.

Recent adventures (2018)

• 2018 was a year rich in writing. While writing my repertoire Satie for Bourg en Bresse, the Drôme director Jean-François Cousin commissioned me to write the music for his show “Folles tribulations pour un coeur volé”. A kind of open-air burlesque enchantment, mixing a hundred actors, dancers, singers and who moved several thousand spectators during a week in Allan (26) in July.

• This year also marks my reunion with the contemporary music composer Nicolas Frize, with whom I had already worked a lot in the past. It was as part of its creation Elle s’écoule la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme de St Denis (June).

• Soloist invited by the symphony orchestra of the Conservatoire de Montélimar (conducted by Stéphane Cortial) as part of the Orchestral Jam program, with trumpeter Hervé Salamone among others. Guest speaker at the Philharmonie de Paris during the Zappa Weekend in September.

And less recent

• Conçoit la partie musicale de deux créations avec la compagnie Oiseau Tonnerre de Jean-Claude Tessier (danse et poésie). La première “Voix off”, au Cambodge (2011) avec des musiciens khmers de Cambodian Living Arts. La seconde aux Mines de Bruoux (2012).

• Commande du Conseil général de la Drôme autour des musiques de cartoons (2012) pour l’Orchestre d’Harmonie de la Drôme.

• A composé-enregistré des musiques pour le chorégraphe Andy Degroat, le Théatre de l’Unité avec Jacques Livchine et Hervée de Lafond.

• Invited on CD and in concerts by percussionists Jean-Luc Rimey-Meille and Sébastien Bonniau to listen to King Crimson’s music (2012). Concerts in Holland (2008) with the “Zappaien” group Cuccurullo Brillo Brullo. Earlier, concerts with singer-guitarist Karim Albert Kook, singer Mamia Chérif. Duo concerts with vibraphonists Jacques Marugg, Arnaud Devos or Benoit Moerlen. Other collaborations are mentioned on various pages of the site depending on the theme.