Bouffi Zouzou  Boudu Photon Collete                                                        Back 

The choice of the bass guitar as my favorite instrument dates back to my high school years, years of effervescence and boiling where I studied chemistry and sometimes alchemy. The 1971-1973 vintage of the technical high school of Le Havre included colorful characters. Banana, Bébert and I were going to meet unforgettable people. The first one I quickly met was Zouzou de Fécamp (Yves), free jazz drummer or rock singer depending on the mood. If he did not stay very long in high school because pursued by studies, he is nevertheless one of my oldest friends of youth. Immediately follows Bouffi, also from Fécamp (Jean-Jacques), with whom we had a good time of laughter and crazy of all kinds. The two lascars, interns at the school, introduced me to the one who communicated to me his passion for the bass. I am referring to Boudu, not saved from the waters but to Bolbec, an eminent village in Seine-Maritime. I don't remember his first name, maybe Didier? In short, by a magic trick that I cannot explain, the fellow with long light hair told me about this musical instrument, the bass, in such a religious and solemn way, that I converted without further delay. Soon we all share the same admiration for these avant-garde French bands where the bass plays a preponderant role and has nothing to envy to guitarists and other keyboard players. It was the great Martin Circus of Act II (with Bob Brault on bass) or the group Magma (Christian Vander, Jannick Top, Claude Engel or Didier Lockwood), that I live at that time in concert but I do not know where ...

With the few savings of a summer job, I bought my first bass guitar, an Aria, all white. I begin to tap like a sick his four strings, inspired by a method just as boring as the solfeggio of schoolchildren (you probably remember the pipeau sessions imposed on us by our schoolmasters, persuaded to give birth to future vocations). The problem with the bass that you don't have with the acoustic guitar is that without an amplifier you don't hear anything at all. Penniless at that time, I persevered in my apprenticeship and stuck the neck of the bass against the doors of an old Norman cabinet, acting as a sounding board. By listening well, it was finally possible for me to perceive the sweet sound of G, D, A but a little less that of E. I only had for any teacher the 33 rpm of my favorite bassists, those mentioned above soon joined by Jack Bruce (Cream) and Chris Squire (Yes) and that I listened to on repeat. A strong desire to play with other musicians was soon felt and walking one summer the promenade of the beach of Le Havre, I met Lionel who offered me to be part of his group, whose name was to be Sigma if I am not mistaken. Certainly a ball orchestra, far from my musical tastes of the moment, but I had everything to learn in music. The rest is another story to discover with Oréjona and Cécile ...