The famous jazz pianist tells his story in a beautiful documentary made in Havana, to (re)watch on france.tv

Alain Jean-Marie, a legendary but discreet Guadeloupean pianist, visited Cuba for the first time, the birthplace of many of his artistic influences. Director Bertrand Fèvre followed him to Havana, and collected his confidences and memories in the heart of a capital steeped in humanity and music.

Alain Jean-Marie waited until he was 78 to discover Cuba, a “happiness”, for the pianist: “Cuba has been so present in my imagination. It’s the realization of a dream. Since my adolescence, I have loved Cuban music.” A very special opportunity to discuss his career, his influences, his young years in Guadeloupe – where he was already steeped in Latin music – and his arrival in Paris. This is the subject of Bertrand Fèvre’s documentary broadcast at the end of April on Guadeloupe La 1ère as part of the program Horizons, and available on the france.tv platform until April 2025.

On the set ofHorizons, the Guadeloupean pianist Jean-Max Mirval summarizes the importance of Alain Jean-Marie both for French jazz and as an ambassador of Caribbean music (notably with his series of albums Biguine Reflections, And more recently that of the Tropical Jazz Trio, started in 2019) : “A bebop and jazz enthusiast, he was keen to continue to contribute to biguine. It is something invaluable to me, and a challenge that is not easy. In Paris, he is confronted with a huge number of musicians, particularly Americans. He could have been tempted, like others, to turn his back on Caribbean causes. He has always served all these causes.”

In the documentary, Havana is a character in its own right with its hybrid architecture and cars from another time. We come across the legendary, stylized portrait of Che Guevara in a shop, a photo of Fidel Castro hanging in a street… And we hear the delicate, unabashed pianistic playing of Alain Jean-Marie. A game like the reflection of a soul.

Anyone who has met the pianist in a Parisian jazz club will remember his great humility and discretion. He speaks shyly and each word seems weighed, the superfluous having no more place in his speech than in his playing: “If I were looking for something after all these years of practice, it would be to find a sound that would allow me to eliminate a lot of notes, everything I could say in the past with lots of notes… I would look for a sound that would summarize a lot of music. I am looking for purity.”

The documentary reveals the broad outlines of the first steps and influences, both in jazz and in Latin American music, of Alain Jean-Marie, through his memories and the testimonies of speakers, such as Éric Nabajoth, bassist turned musicologist , and percussionist Gabriel “Gaby” Mustache. They rubbed shoulders in their youth in Guadeloupe. They played together, were used to performing very different genres at balls and they shared their passions: “Jazz, Afro-Cuban music, bossa nova, everything that had to do with improvisation,” lists Alain Jean-Marie. “We were very bebop,” specifies Éric Nabajoth, detailing the “bath” musical that rocked their adolescence. “We are part of a generation that listened to Coltrane when he was alive!”. Alain Jean-Marie, for his part, evokes Charlie Parker, who died before John Coltrane (1955 for one, 1967 for the other): “Until now he remains an idol, a beacon.”

With the fees from the balls where he played, the pianist rushed to the record store to buy the albums of the series Cuban Jam Sessions and bebop records. He points out that trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was “a pillar” for Cuban music “by composing Afro-Cuban themes that have entered the jazz repertoire, such as Manteca,” he says, singing the phrase Gillespie said at the beginning of the song, “I’ll Never Go Back to Georgia”.

Among the many musical moments, we like this archive from the 80s where Alain Jean-Marie accompanies Chet Baker on I’m a Fool to Want You. Ce “great trumpeter had a lot of sweetness in his music, in his person, and he had an incredible sense of melody. A strength, a sobriety, an elegance in his music”, insists the pianist who accompanied him on many concerts. “He called me even though he already had musicians who often played alongside him, I don’t know why,” he still wonders. “I was proud to be one of his favorite companions,” he finally smiled, almost embarrassed, behind his sunglasses.

Upon his arrival in Paris, in addition to Chet Baker, Alain Jean-Marie rubbed shoulders with legends of international jazz. “People who had jazz music venues would bring in American musicians who would be accompanied by French rhythm players. I was lucky enough to play with many of them: Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, Archie Shepp, Sonny Stitt, Clark Terry, Max Roach, singers like Abbey Lincoln…”

The documentary is full of encounters with Cubans. In Havana, everyone knows South American songs and the locals punctuate the film with tasty interludes: Two Gardenias, The Moon’s Ridges, With You Learned, With You in the Distance, How It Was… Alain Jean-Marie is not to be outdone, singing Solamente una Vez in the back of the car that transports him through open avenues. “When I played at balls in Guadeloupe, and especially in Martinique, there was a moment called the quarter of an hour of charm. The orchestra only played boleros. Several singers performed them alternately. The lights were turned off and people were almost dancing in the darkness. It was a moment that some had been waiting for, but others were dreading the idea of ​​seeing their girlfriends in the dark with strangers…”

Invited to the Havana Conservatory, the pianist discovered the warm welcome the students gave him. “I was impressed, not surprised because I expected to be in the presence of a very high level. It is a country where music is very present, very alive, it is like the air they breathe. I was surprised to be welcomed by a large orchestra that was just waiting for me to come in to start swinging… It was like a big bouquet of flowers in music.” The documentary also contains some beautiful duets. A piano-voice with the young Dayalex on Next Learn And Two Gardenias. And above all, a piano duo with Leyanis Valdés, heir to a line of Cuban pianists, her father Chucho and her grandfather Bebo, during a superb dance sequence. “I am very impressed to have met Leyanis, the daughter of Chucho Valdés who is one of my greatest heroes in music”, comments Alain Jean-Marie.

Cuba and its music, the pianist carries them in his heart. “I appreciate the destiny of this country that has stood up next to so many vicissitudes, so much contempt. It is a people for whom I have a very great admiration that has become a great affection.” And it is in the Havana night that his touching words are lost: “The night was the time of my life, my domain as a musician. It was my livelihood and my protection, my theater of operations, my hidden life and my public life. The night is a friend. But now, it is my nostalgia.”

Horizons program, presented by Ludivine Guiolet
“Alain Jean-Marie, Cuban impressions”
Co-production Beautiful Like an Image, Beautiful like the Antilles
Written and directed by Bertrand Fèvre.
Length of documentary: 52 minutes
First broadcast: April 22, 2024 on Guadeloupe La 1ère
Available on france.tv until April 23, 2025