Gérard Jouannest

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gérard Jouannest in October 2011

Gérard Jouannest (born May 2, 1933 in Vanves , France , † May 16, 2018 in Ramatuelle ) was a French pianist , composer and arranger . He became known in particular through his collaboration with Jacques Brel and Juliette Gréco , for whom he composed and arranged numerous chansons .

Life

Jouannest studied at the Conservatoire de Paris in the class of Yvonne Lefébure and graduated with the Premier Prix de Piano . He applied for the position of a teacher at the conservatory of Besancon , but two days before the exam died Jouannests father to a heart attack. The son did not take the exam and instead switched to show business.

There he accompanied the Trois Ménestrels on the piano, which, according to Olivier Todd, “cannot exactly be regarded as the high point of his musical career” when he first met Jacques Brel in December 1958 at Jacques Canetti's Théâtre des Trois Baudets . Its pianist François Rauber was absent, Jouannest stepped in and subsequently became Brels' permanent pianist. He composed and arranged numerous chansons for Brel, many of which were created in close collaboration between Brel's texts and Jouannest's musical ideas. One such joint work is the well-known chanson Ne me quitte pas , which was registered under Brel's sole name, since Jouannest was not yet registered with the French collecting society SACEM at the time . Only On n'oublie rien was officially registered as the first joint project between Brels and Jouannest.

Gérard Jouannest at the Wiener Festwochen 2009

Jouannest wrote the music for La chanson de Jacky , Les prénoms de Paris , Mathilde , Le cheval , Les biches , Les désespérés and, in collaboration with Brel, for J'arrive , Fernand , Bruxelles , La chanson des vieux amants , Marieke and with the continued assistance of accordionist Jean Corti on Madeleine , Les toros and Les vieux . For a complete listing of his work on Brel's chansons, see the list of chansons and publications by Jacques Brel .

The first collaboration with Juliette Gréco came in 1968, the year in which Brel released his last record for the time being. Jouannest's colleague Rauber asked him to represent Gréco's unusual pianist. At the same time, Barbara canceled a planned tour on which Jouannest should have accompanied her. Since then, Jouannest has been Juliette Gréco's constant musical companion and has composed most of her chansons. In 1989 the chansonnière and her pianist got married. For Gréco, Jouannest wrote the music for Mon fils chante , Vivre , Les années d'autrefois , Un jour d'été and C'était un train de nuit, among others .

From 2006 Jouannest also worked with the rapper Abd al Malik . In 2009 Angela Clouzet published a biography about Jouannest under the title De Brel à Gréco (German: From Brel to Gréco ). At this point, Jouannest had written over 250 pieces of music in his career.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gérard Jouannest, pianiste et mélodiste de Jacques Brel et de Juliette Gréco, est mort Le Monde , accessed on May 17, 2018
  2. ↑ Gérard Jouannest: comment un pianiste classique se met-il à la chanson? on the France Culture website .
  3. ↑ a b Gérard Jouannest: l'ombre de Brel, la lumière de Gréco . In: Nord éclair of May 9, 2009.
  4. ↑ Olivier Todd: Jacques Brel - a life . Achilla-Presse, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-928398-23-7 , pp. 150-159.
  5. ↑ Biography of Juliette Gréco on Radio France Internationale .
  6. ^ Abd al Malik et Gérard Jouannest at Radio France Internationale .
  7. ↑ Gérard Jouannest, l'homme qui faisait chanter Brel on Europe 1 of May 5, 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Jouannest, Gérard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French pianist, composer and arranger
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Vanves , France
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 2018
Place of death Ramatuelle