Jean-Pierre Alarcen

Jean-Pierre Alarcen is a French symphonic/jazz-rock guitarist and composer who played in the bands Eden Rose and Sandrose during the early 1970s. Later that decade, he released back-to-back solo albums on L’Escargot and Scoppuzzle.

Background

Jean-Pierre Alarcen was born in 1944 in France. His earliest documented groups included Les Murator’s and Les Guitares du Dimanche, an instrumental outfit that recorded contemporary song covers.

Drummer Alain Truffaut and keyboardist Alain Le Govic formed Les Mod’s in early 1966 near Argenteuil with guitarist Alarcen and bassist Bernard Carl. Les Mod’s worked MJC venues around Paris and expanded with a horn section. The group recorded a demo at Studio de la Porte Saint-Martin, which led Vogue to issue two singles. Jacques Dutronc hired Les Mod’s for television appearances tied to “Et moi, et moi, et moi” in summer 1966, then retained Alarcen and Le Govic for his regular backing group.

In mid-1968, Alarcen left Dutronc to back the now-solo Le Govic on a sequence of Odeon singles. The two formed Le Système Crapoutchik, a post-psych sextet that recorded two Vogue EPs, then continued on Puterflam’s Flamophone label with Aussi loin que je me souvienne. Alarcen later reunited with Système Crapoutchik musicians in the French production of Hair. 

Through Vogue studio sessions, Alarcen met Marseille musicians Henri Garella, Christian Clairefond, and Michel Jullien. The four became Eden Rose, which cut the 1970 album On the Way to Eden. In October 1971, Eden Rose became Sandrose with singer Rose Podwojny, who  Alarcen heard on a William Sheller demo. Sandrose cut a 1972 album and toured with Georges Rodi in lieu of Garella.

Alarcen took subsequent gigs with drummer Bernard Lubat and Gérard Pisani’s Tartempion. In 1973, Alarcen became a sideman for François Béranger, serving as guitarist, keyboardist, arranger, and composer across Le Monde Bouge, L’Alternative, En Public, and Participe Présent. Béranger and Alarcen maintained the partnership for five years, then separated following a month of performances at the Élysée Montmartre in Paris.

Alarcen recorded his first solo material early in 1978 at his home in Flagy, Seine-et-Marne, with producer Gilles Bleiveis. He retained bassist Gérard Cohen, drummer Jean-Loup Besson, percussionist Serge Millerat, and keyboardist Francis Lockwood from the Béranger group, with pianist Jean-Paul Asseline among the additional players. Alarcen took “Mon Amour, Mon Amour…!?” and “Vieux Garçon” to Studio Davout, where Claude Arini directed the strings and Claude Ermelin recorded and mixed the sessions. Alarcen completed the six-track set for release through L’Escargot.

Discography:

• Jean-Pierre Alarcen (1978)
• Tableau N° 1 (1979)
• Tableau N° 2 (1998)

References and notes

• Bibliothèque nationale de France — Jean-Pierre Alarcen authority records: gives 1944 as the birth year and identifies Alarcen across guitar, composition, and synthesizer credits. The BnF Alain Chamfort oral-history catalog also specifically indexes Alarcen in the Murator’s/Mod’s and Jacques Dutronc sections. (BnF Catalogue)
• Rock Made in France — Les Mod’s: strongest detailed source for Truffaut and Le Govic forming the group near Argenteuil with Alarcen and Bernard Carl, the MJC circuit, added horns, Porte Saint-Martin demo, Vogue singles, and summer 1966 Dutronc connection. (France699)
• Alarcen/Sandrose interview archive: Alarcen describes the Dutronc period, Système Crapoutchik, Eden Rose, Hair, the October 1971 formation of Sandrose, his recruitment of Rose Podwojny, and the circumstances that led into the Sandrose album. (ZetaWiki)
• JazzRockSoul — Sandrose: supplies the precise December 13–18 Studio Davout dates and the Bernard Christopher/René Ameline production credits already established for the JRS Sandrose page. (JazzRockSoul)
• François Béranger official site — autobiography: Béranger dates the meeting with Alarcen to 1973, explains the PA system and truck, states that the partnership lasted five years, and places the split following the Élysée Montmartre engagement. (François Béranger)
• BnF — François Béranger en public: confirms Alarcen on guitar and keyboards alongside Gérard Cohen, Jean-Loup Besson, Serge Millerat, and Francis Lockwood, the same core musicians who entered the solo project. (BnF Catalogue)
• Detailed Alarcen chronology / first-album credits: places the home sessions at Alarcen’s residence in Flagy in early 1978. Independent album-credit data confirms producer Gilles Bleiveis, Cohen, Besson, Millerat, Lockwood, Asseline, Claude Arini, Claude Ermelin, and the L’Escargot release. (Oncle RRRouliane)
• Encyclopédisque / BnF label catalog: independently confirms the self-titled L’Escargot LP and the 1978 release chronology. (Encyclopédisque)