François Jeanneau -

François Jeanneau (born 1935) is a French saxophonist, keyboardist, and composer who played in the bands Experience and Triangle in the early 1970s. During the second half of the decade, he released three solo albums on Palm and Owl.

Background

François Jeanneau was born June 15, 1935, in Paris, France. His mother played piano at home, and his father had played saxophone in the band at Meilhan-sur-Garonne. His older brother played clarinet.

In 1949, Jeanneau attended the Festival International de Jazz de Paris with his brother and heard Charlie Parker and Sidney Bechet. His brother soon formed a New Orleans group with school friends and needed a soprano saxophonist. Jeanneau rented the instrument and received basic fingering instruction from his father. The brothers learned melodies, bass lines, and chords from records by ear. Jeanneau later studied flute with René Leroy and harmony with Mme Machabey-Ganeval while music displaced his literature studies.

Jeanneau brought a tenor saxophone to a Club Saint-Germain jam on May 29, 1955. He joined pianist Georges Arvanitas in 1959 and spent more than two years in the quintet on the nightly Club Saint-Germain bill with flugelhornist Bernard Vitet, bassist Michel Gaudry, and drummer Daniel Humair. Columbia recorded the quintet in Paris on June 22 and 24, 1960 for Soul Jazz. Jeanneau substituted for Lucky Thompson in Bud Powell’s quartet with bassist Pierre Michelot and drummer Kenny Clarke. He formed a trio with bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Daniel Humair. At Club Saint-Germain, Jeanneau played with tenor saxophonist Don Byas.

In 1962, Jeanneau traveled to Helsinki for the World Festival for Peace in a group with drummer Aldo Romano and bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark. He heard Archie Shepp and Bill Dixon at the festival and moved further into free jazz on his return to Paris. Jef Gilson enlisted Jeanneau for the sessions behind Enfin!, the pianist’s 1963 bandleader debut. Jeanneau also backed pianist François Tusques on the 1965 album Free Jazz. Meanwhile, Jeanneau gigged with the Jean-Claude Fohrenbach big band and Jack Diéval quintet.

In 1964, arranger Jean-Claude Petit brought Jeanneau into the touring orchestra of Claude François. Jeanneau spent four years with the singer and supplemented the tours with Paris studio dates. In 1970, he joined Triangle on saxophone and keyboards, then concentrated on flute and synthesizers within the group. Jeanneau also joined musicians from Martin Circus and Blues Convention on the 1971 cross-group double LP Expérience, which included his piece “Theme From an Unknown Island.” Triangle folded in 1974 over creative disputes and financial problems.

Jeanneau formed a quartet in 1975 with pianist Michel Graillier, bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark, and drummer Aldo Romano. The group played Rome and recorded for the Italian Horo series Jazz a Confronto under the Paris Quartet name. Jeanneau assembled a related lineup for his first album as leader with Graillier, Jenny-Clark, and drummer Bernard Lubat. Palm founder Jef Gilson engineered the sessions at Studio Palm in Paris on September 16 and 17, 1975 for Une Bien Curieuse Planète.

Discography:

Une Bien Curieuse Planète (1975)
Éphémère (1977)
Techniques douces (1977)
Europamerica (1977 • L. “Butch” Morris, J.L. Chautemps, F. Jeanneau, A. Jaume, Ph. Mate, A. Hatot, M. Richard, J.C. Capon, J. Gilson, P.Y. Sorin & G. Brown )
Akagera (1980 • Humair Jeanneau Texier)
Prao (1983 • Mino Cinelu / François Couturier / François Jeanneau)
Terrains vagues (1983)
Soli Solo… Plus (1985 • Jean-Louis Chautemps, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Daniel Humair, François Jeanneau, Jean-François Jenny-Clark & Henri Texier)
Taxi Way (1988)

References and notes

François Jeanneau, “Jazz lacrymogène,” Outre Mesure: unusually valuable first-person chronology. Jeanneau identifies his mother as a pianist, his brother as a clarinetist, the 1949 Parker concert as the decisive event, soprano saxophone as his entry instrument, literature as his field of study, the Club Saint-Germain engagement as his professional school, Triangle as his 1970–74 group, and the Graillier–Jenny-Clark–Romano quartet as his post-Triangle formation. (Outremesure)
Luca Civelli interview with Jeanneau, Musica Jazz: supplies the strongest detail on the family. Jeanneau states that his father played saxophone in the Meilhan-sur-Garonne band and gave him his only saxophone lesson. The same interview identifies the Georges Arvanitas Quintet as his nightly Club Saint-Germain group from roughly 1959 through 1961, names Jean-Claude Petit as the contact for Claude François, and describes the 1962 Shepp–Dixon encounter in Helsinki. (Musica Jazz)
Fresh Sound / Georges Arvanitas Quintet discography: gives the Soul Jazz personnel and the June 22 and 24, 1960 Paris recording dates. (Fresh Sound Records)
Philharmonie de Paris, BnF, Jazz à Caen, and Les Allumés du Jazz: establish the birth date, training with René Leroy, Gilson sessions, Free Jazz personnel, Triangle affiliation, and other early ensembles. (Philharmonie de Paris Mediatheque)
Jean-François Jenny-Clark archive and Souffle Continu: confirm the 1975 quartet, the Paris Quartet recording, and the personnel for Une Bien Curieuse Planète. The album credits identify Lubat on drums, not Romano. (Jean-François Jenny-Clark)
Session-date check: the reissue data gives Studio Palm as the location and September 16–17, 1975 as the recording dates for Une Bien Curieuse Planète. (Abraxas)
One source conflict matters: the Philharmonie/Misterioso biography places Jeanneau in Mac-Kac’s quartet at Club Saint-Germain. Jeanneau himself identifies the nightly 1959–61 engagement as the Georges Arvanitas Quintet, and the April 1961 Jazz Hot contents explicitly name Arvanitas, Vitet, Jeanneau, Luigi Trussardi, and Michel Babault as the Club Saint-Germain quintet. I therefore used the firsthand Arvanitas chronology. (Musica Jazz)
A second distinction cleans up the 1975 chronology: biographical summaries sometimes imply that the Graillier–Jenny-Clark–Romano quartet recorded Jeanneau’s first leader album. The quartet existed and recorded as the Paris Quartet, but Une Bien Curieuse Planète used Bernard Lubat on drums. (Jean-François Jenny-Clark)