— You are a multi-instrumentalist, which is rare among musicians. How did this happen?
— It all came about by itself and was fairly easy for me. I grew up in a musical family: my father was a drummer and my mother taught piano and singing. They taught me a lot of things.
At 14, I recorded my first songs. I waited a long for a guitarist or bassist to record their parts. So I decided to buy an electric guitar and a bass and do everything myself. That's how it began.
— Do you have any problem finding musicians for your solo projects?
— No. Today I play with many musicians, so many that I can choose and invite those with whom I feel comfortable and who are the best candidates for the recording of a particular piece.
For example, in my new project I only do the singing and the drums, while the rest is done by other talented musicians such as Fyodor Dosumov (guitar), Lev Trofimov (keys), Alain Caron (bass) and Hadrien Feraud (bass). It's nice to have an opportunity to engage so many people: you get unique music.
— Do you consider yourself popular?
— No. I am simply traveling around the world, playing music, meeting new people. That's all.
By the way, didn't we meet at a Koktebel festival before? I played there with Impact Fuze a couple of years ago. It was great! It's a picturesque place and we were warmly received by the audience. I would like very much to play at that festival again! I would be glad to bring my new project there.
— You've come to Russia fairly often in recent years. Have you learned anything new about the country?
— Oh yes! You can't imagine how much! Before I joined Impact Fuze, I had almost never been to Russia, or rather only once: I played with Jean-Luc Ponty then. But you know how it was: we arrived, played and left straight away. There was no time for sightseeing.
And then, when I came back with Imact Fuze, I got acquainted with the country and the people. And you know what? I now prefer playing in Russia to playing in America. I feel closer to Russians than to Americans.
When we first played with Anton Davidyants, I was amazed to see what a skilled musician he was, and the same applies to Russian musicians in general. I always thought that Russian musicians were good at classical music, which they've played superbly, but not in such areas as jazz or rock, which were relatively new to them. I was wrong. And it also amazes me that Russians take such great interest in the French culture. Thanks to this cooperation I discovered an absolutely new culture. It's a fascinating experience.
— Was there anything in Russia that stuck in your memory? Maybe an interesting episode?
— You've taken me unawares… Why, lots of things happened! While we were touring, surprises awaited us at every corner. We performed in Samara, Koktebel, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, St.Petersburg and Moscow, and each of those cities was a kind of adventure for us. It was great! That's how I learned what Russians are like.
You know, in France, and in Russia too, people don't show too much friendliness on their first encounter. A fairly cool greeting, a short conversation — that's all. Nothing like in America, where a man you see for the first time in your life shouts: "Hello, friend! How are you? Glad to see you! You're great!" But if you make friends with a Russian or a Frenchman, this will be true friendship and you can rely on each other in hard times: if you have problems, I am beside you. In the US it's the other way around: those who called you their best friend yesterday won't lift a finger to help you today.
Russia seems to me a combination of France and Africa, just like Quebec is a combination of France and America. We have much in common in the way we communicate or hang out together. Russians are very intelligent people, but their way of life reminds me of Africa's "help yourself out of trouble." Once, during a transfer, we had to stop a car traveling in the same direction, or we would have been late for the concert. That was an adventure of sorts. That was fun. Any time we ran into some problem, we somehow managed to weasel our way out of it and do everything in time.
— What does being a musician mean to you?
— It's my life. I grew up surrounded by music and it never occurred to me to do anything else. I would even say that I am music.
Of course, some may see it as work, but not me. If creativity starts to look like work, I say goodbye. That means that what I am doing at this moment doesn't fit into my vision of music and my place in it.
For example, I played with some pop stars for a while, but always gave it up quickly, because when you play in groups like that, you have almost all you can wish for — big audiences, girls, money — but you don't have the main thing: you can't express yourself, you don't feel that you are one family.
On the contrary, when you play jazz, that feeling never leaves you. This adds a charming touch to the music. People who have never heard jazz before feel its power. They come to me after concerts and tell me that.
— What will happen to jazz in 50 or 100 years?
— Considering how the music industry is developing today, I think it will die out or change beyond recognition. Today, people are fed primitive music consisting of no more than four chords. That sort of music doesn't stimulate people to think or try to understand more complicated music. And jazz is very complicated music.
I often play with popular jazz artists and see what happens to the audiences. They're getting older along with the artist. You don't see young faces in the audience.