Pierre Fouad

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Pierre Fouad was an Egyptian jazz drummer known for his collaboration with Django Reinhardt at the Quintette du Hot Club de France in Paris.

Nothing is known in the literature about his life dates. He is said to come from a wealthy family (his family was related to that of King Faruq ) and came to Paris to study. The first recordings were made in 1935 with Gus Viseur ( Le Virtuose Tatave et son Orchester , with Claude Fournier ). In the following years he played a. a. with Fletcher Allen , Pierre Allier , Alix Combelle and in 1938 with the Hot Club Swing Stars , consisting of Philippe Brun , Pierre Allier, Maurice Mouflard , Danny Polo , Max Blanc , Alix Combelle, Noël Chiboust , Louis Richardet , Roger Chaput and Louis Vola . In 1938 he recorded a session with Fletcher Allen, Alix Combelle, Tony Rovira and Marcel Bianchi . He was also a critic for Jazz Hot in 1935 .

André Hodeir described him in a portrait in the magazine of the Hot Club de France in January / February 1946 as always well dressed, with a strong personality, sometimes outwardly leaving a sluggish, detached impression, but often exuberant and with cutting wit in conversation. According to Hodeir, his swing drive was so strong that he sometimes neglected other jazz aspects, ignored bad players (as long as the rhythm section worked, he would not tolerate compromises there) and also tolerated sweet dance music (even if he tolerated jazz à la Armstrong and Ellington musically preferred). Hodeir thought he was the best drummer in France at the time.

In 1940 he became a member of the Quintette du Hot Club de France by Django Reinhardt when the latter set it up again (with clarinetist Hubert Rostaing, among others ). In early 1940 there was a radio recording of a performance by Fouad with Django Reinhardt ( Chez Jimmy ); on October 1, 1940, he took part in a first recording session of the Quintette du Hot Club de France ("Nuages", "Rhythm Futur"), with Hubert Rostaing , Django and Joseph Reinhardt , Francis Luca and the singer Josette Daydé . In addition to working for Reinhardt and Grappelli, Fouad also played with Noēl Chiboust , Hubert Rostaing / Aimé Barelli , Alex Renard , Christian Wagner , André Ekyan , Charles Trenet , Sarane Ferret , Emile Carrara , Charlie Lewis , Claude in Paris in the early 1940s Laurence , André Ekyan, Tony Muréna and Louis Richard-Day 's Accordion Swing Quartets.

On July 10, 1941, he played the title "Swing 42" with Barelli, Rostaing, Chiboust, Max Hugot , Léo Chauliac , Eugène Vées and Emmanuel Soudieux ; he appeared under Fouad's name ( Pierre Fouad et son Orchester ) appeared on Swing (SW-128). In 1942 Fouad fell out with Django Reinhardt and was replaced by André Jourdan . But he also recorded with Reinhardt afterwards, most recently on a tour of the quintet to Belgium in 1947, where they recorded in the Decca Studios in Brussels (after the tour organizer had cheated them out of their fees).

In the post-war years, Fouad continued to work with Reinhardt, Rostaing and Chauliac, as well as Eddie Barclay , Jack Conner ; on May 21, 1947, Fouad's last recording session with Django Reinhardt took place in Brussels. He later moved back to Cairo, where nothing is known about any further musical work.

After Tom Lord he was involved in 63 recording sessions in the field of jazz between 1935 and 1947. He had a small role in the feature film Chèque au porteur (1941, directed by Jean Boyer ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 4, 2017)
  2. ^ Les musiciens with Ray Binder
  3. ↑ Memories of Fouad are quoted in detail in the book by Charles Delaunay , Django mon frère, Paris 1968, from which Michael Dregni in his Django biography (Oxford University Press 2004) is quoted. On one occasion he argued with Django Reinhardt about a 50 franc fee, only to take away 300,000 francs from him that same evening while playing billiards. Dregni, Django, p. 170
  4. ↑ Pierre Fouad in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data
SURNAME Fouad, Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Egyptian jazz drummer
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century
DATE OF DEATH 20th century