Francis Dreyfus

Francis Dreyfus (* 1940 in Le Raincy ; † June 24, 2010 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ) was a French music agent, music producer and publisher in the fields of jazz , rock , pop . He is the founder of Dreyfus Records .

Live and act

Dreyfus organized a weekend jazz club with friends in a Paris suburb as a teenager. As a student of law and politics at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (he wanted to become a cultural attaché), he began in 1963 as a music publisher (SPAA, Editions Labrador) and agent with the songs of his school friend Eddy Vartan, who worked for musicians like Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan wrote. With “You're the One”, sung by Petula Clark , they had a No. 1 hit in the USA. In the late 1960s, David Bowie , Cat Stevens , Pink Floyd , Ten Years After , Jimmy Cliff , T. Rex were added. Later his publishing house "Francis Dreyfus Music" acquired the catalogs administered by Island Music and Chrysalis Music. From the 1980s onwards, other additions were Al Jarreau , Marcus Miller , David Sanborn , Miles Davis / Jazzhorn (between 1981 and 1984), Benny Golson , Ornette Coleman , Rickie Lee Jones , Charles Mingus , Alice Cooper and American TV series such as “Dallas ". The coronation was the rights for Elvis Presley in France from 1989.

In 1971 Dreyfus founded his first record label "Disques Motors". Here Jean Michel Jarre released his first records in 1972, which then became great international successes in the 1970s ("Oxygene" 1976, "Equinoxe" 1978). He also had hits with the singer Christophe in the early 1970s. With Jarre he regularly organized spectacular concert events, first in Paris in 1979 on the Place de la Concorde and in 1981 in China.

In 1991 he founded his own jazz label "Dreyfus Jazz", followed in 1993 by his American label "Dreyfus Records". He brought u. a. Recordings by Didier Lockwood , Michel Petrucciani , Richard Galliano , Eddy Louiss , Biréli Lagrène , Philip Catherine , the Mingus Big Band, Roy Haynes , Ahmad Jamal , Steve Grossman , Sylvain Luc , André Ceccarelli , Rosario Giuliani , the singer Anne Ducros , the pianist Jean-Michel Pilc and Marcus Miller. In a series “Jazz Reference”, classic jazz recordings are reissued in improved sound quality - without following the fashion, which he adds to the “terrible” alternate takes. In his experience, the poor quality of the available recordings was the reason why even many young jazz musicians would hardly hear the classical recordings of Charlie Parker, for example . With the artists of his label he regularly organized "Dreyfus Jazz Nights" z. B. in Paris and New York (first in 1993 at the Montreux Jazz Festival ).

He is the father of actress Julie Dreyfus (* 1966) from his marriage (1965 to 1973) to actress Pascale Audret (1936-2000).

Web links

Remarks

^ Francis Dreyfus, la musique, c'est son affaire . In: lexpress.fr . 3rd July 1997.
↑ Alexandre Caldara: Dreyfus: la belle affaire. (PDF) L'Express (Neuchâtel) , June 8, 2006, p. 15 , accessed on January 11, 2016 (French, interview).

personal data
SURNAME	Dreyfus, Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French music producer
DATE OF BIRTH	1940
PLACE OF BIRTH	Le Raincy
DATE OF DEATH	June 24, 2010
Place of death	Neuilly-sur-Seine

[1] Francis Dreyfus, la musique, c'est son affaire . In: lexpress.fr . 3rd July 1997.

[2] Alexandre Caldara: Dreyfus: la belle affaire. (PDF) L'Express (Neuchâtel) , June 8, 2006, p. 15 , accessed on January 11, 2016 (French, interview).