This show is the one that was created for the 10th anniversary of Triplets ?
That’s it. At the start, there was a craze for film and music, but we had only played it a few times in cabaret format. A few years later, I wanted to get out of my studio and find a way to do it that would be interesting. Film concerts were rather rare at the time. We put on the show, we proposed it to the Jazz Festival, then we did it in Los Angeles where we met an agent…
Did he walk around a lot afterwards?
Yes ! We did a lot of it in the United States, we went to China, Australia, Europe… In France we did two tours. In a fairly modest way, it was a great success. It was surprising to see how far Sylvain Chomet’s film had travelled. We did that for a few years, then like everyone else, the pandemic put a brake on it. There we resume the course, but not too much because I have several personal projects. We’re going to limit that to a few months a year.
It’s normal to want to do something else…
Yes. At the same time, from a business point of view, there are so many more sources of income for the artists… No choice to tour. It’s direct income and a way to promote other projects.
Did you know at the time that you had composed such timeless music?
It’s impossible to answer that: if you say yes, you look super pretentious! When you work on a motivating project, with a lot of talented and creative people, there is something different. But success is not something you can predict. This is one of the problems of the industry today: they want to predict success so much that they produce tasteless things! It gives what we see in the cinema, big blockbusters that are all made from the same mould. That’s why I find it interesting THE triplets, a somewhat peculiar film, bizarre at times, but successful everywhere. The proof that the public is capable of taking more than we think.
Is it moving to present this show in Montreal?
I’m a bit cynical by nature… But yes, I’m happy. It makes me happy to do that here. I have a certain gratitude that people still want to see this show, the book. But I never did this job to become famous or win an Oscar. When that happens, it’s a bit surreal. It gave me a lot of luck, but I never considered that my career was successful or that it was due to me. It’s a coincidence, in a way. Twenty years later, it makes me happy to present it, it’s a trip also because the people who are in my bandthey are friends.
How many are you on stage?
Nine: a drummer, a double bass, a piano, me, a percussionist, three winds, a singer, Doriane Fabreg who was in DobaCaracol, who has replaced Betty Bonifassi for several years. I adapted the arrangements a little, but we play the music that I composed while following the film. We’re closer to classical music than jazz, because there’s really no improvisation possible. But there are also some funny things. I can play the guitar as well as the vacuum cleaner, then afterwards we do gumboot. As we have to play the soundtrack in real time, sometimes we have to run from one instrument to another, to stay in sync.
It’s sporty, then!
Yes, at the end of the show, we are hot!
If we want to follow you, what are your projects?
I make film music, I give jazz quartet shows and I’m going to release an album with a jazz octet. We’ll finish the mix soon. I also took advantage of the pandemic to start a master’s degree in modern composition, I am finishing my dissertation. Yes, I decided, despite my honorable age, to go back to university with young people and it’s fabulous. It improved my songwriting, it gave me new ways of thinking about orchestration and sound, it brought about little motivating moments of epiphany. The teachers thought I was brave, but there is no age limit for studying. I’m really glad I did.