François Cahen

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François "Faton" Cahen (born July 24, 1944 in Coulommiers , Seine-et-Marne department ; † July 13, 2011 in Ivry-sur-Seine , Val-de-Marne department ) was a French fusion and jazz pianist and composer , who became known through his membership in fusion and progressive rock bands such as Magma and above all Zao and his work as a film composer .

Life

François Cahen comes from a musical family; He had been taking piano lessons since early childhood and found his mother's access to jazz through a Thelonious Monk album , which he then became self-taught . He met Christian Vander through bassist Jacky Vidal in 1969 and became a founding member of the fusion group Magma, to whose first two albums Magma and 1001 ° centigrades he contributed numerous compositions. In 1972 he left the band, followed by saxophonist Yochk'o Seffer . The two musicians then founded the Zeuhl formation Zao, who recorded four albums between 1972 and 1976, Z = 7L, Osiris, Shekina and Kawana (with Didier Lockwood ). From 1977 Cahen played in the formation Typhareth , which also included the young drummer Manu Katché . In the following years he presented two solo albums ( Piano Concerts and Tendre Piano Solo ) and a duo album with Didier Lockwood ( Thank You Friends , 1978); but he also played a trio album with Miroslav Vitouš and Jack DeJohnette ( Great Winds , 1979).

In 1980 he founded the Ethnic Duo with Yochk'o Seffer ; a live album was recorded at the Théâtre du Chêne Noir in Avignon . In 1986 another solo album was created ( Piano Rêves ); with Didier Malherbe he directed the band project Faton Bloom . In 1988 he formed a trio with the drummer Pip Pyle and the bassist Étienne Callac . When the formation Zao was revived in 1993, Jean-My Truong , Dominique Bertram and Patrick Tilleman participated ( Akhenaton 1994); In the 2000s, this band produced further albums ( Zao Family and Zao Live in Tokyo ). In 2008 he recorded a live album in the Trio Ethnic 3 with Yochk'o Seffer and the percussionist François Causse. In 2009 he worked in the Don Faton quartet , with whom the album Cœur à corps (2009) was created with François Causse and Didier Malherbe as flutist.

From the late 1970s onwards, he wrote fourteen film scores , such as The Secret Child (1979) and Freedom, the Night (1983, both directed by Philippe Garrel ) and for the documentary Balthus de l'autre côté du miroir (1996). He also worked as a pianist on Michel Portal's soundtrack for Secret Operation Marseille (1981).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Obituary at Citizen Jazz (French)
  2. ↑ Obituary at Ivry94  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ivry94.fr  
  3. ^ Review of the album Faton Bloom at Allmusic (English). Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  4. ^ François Cahen in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  5. ↑ Michel Portal - L'ombre Rouge in Discogs
personal data
SURNAME Cahen, François
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cahen, Faton (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French fusion and jazz pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Coulommiers , Seine-et-Marne department
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 2011
Place of death Ivry-sur-Seine , Val-de-Marne department