Additional Information
Manu Katché is probably the best-known drummer in France. His accompaniments for national and international stars, from Michel Jonasz to Sting and Peter Gabriel, not to mention dozens and dozens of prestigious collaborations, make him a distinguished guest in Montreal, this time as an ensemble leader and composer. Given his upcoming intimate stop at Studio TD this Wednesday, March 12th, a prelude to a dozen concerts in Quebec until the end of the month, PAN M 360 offers you this interview with Alain Brunet with the star drummer.
PAN M 360: Your last recording, The Scope, dates back to 2019. That’s right, isn’t it?
Manu Katché: Absolutely.
PAN M 360: If you’re going back on tour, does this herald an upcoming recording? If so, what’s the project?
Manu Katché: Exactly. I’ve composed about ten new songs, but they haven’t been recorded yet. This Quebec tour, besides playing in this country where I have many memories and which I really appreciate, will allow me to test and develop these new tracks live with my band. Once in the studio, I think it will be a real plus for recording them.
PAN M 360: Who are you touring with in the current cycle?
Manu Katché: The same bassist who is already present on my last album as well as on stage, Jérôme Regard, as well as guitarist Patrick Manouguian. I have a new person who has just joined us and who plays keyboards and trumpet. Sebastian Studnitzky
PAN M 360: Could you please briefly describe your touring colleagues, their backgrounds, and their skills as performers and improvisers?
Manu Katché: As for bassist Jérôme Regard, he’s also a double bass player and double bass teacher. This allows me to choose a precise sound for the pieces I play, delivered either by his electric bass or his double bass. As I mentioned, he’s a double bass teacher, which means he reads music perfectly and allows me to save a lot of time in rehearsals once the pieces are written, because he sight-reads music. He comes from a jazz background, with that harmonic openness associated with jazz and the ease of improvisation. The guitarist, Patrick, comes from the world of mainstream music, just like me; we have fairly similar codes regarding accompaniment and offer a fairly diverse sound palette.
PAN M 360: What repertoire do you plan to play in MTL? Your own compositions? Jazz-infused covers? Standards?
Manu Katché: Only my own compositions, new ones as I told you at the beginning of this interview, and maybe, but it’s not yet official, two covers…
PAN M 360: As an ensemble leader, what do you seek to express with your colleagues?
Manu Katché: Playing together for quite some time now allows us to enjoy ourselves together and, with this shared pleasure, to share it with the audience. What matters most to me is the interactivity with the audience, certainly the reason why musicians need to perform live—a source of enormous and unique emotion.
PAN M 360: The recent pieces in your repertoire draw on groove, jazz, pop, Afro-descendant music from the Caribbean or Africa, traditional West African music, and even electro. How would you describe them?
Manu Katché: It’s difficult to answer this question. Offering an instrumental repertoire for my entire set, I would say pop/jazzy-electro…
PAN M 360: You were a five-star accompanist for some of the most renowned creative pop artists for a long time. How did the transition to your solo career, your own expression, come about?
Manu Katché: I have been and remain a sideman. I really enjoy being able to play and collaborate with artists of different styles. It’s true that over ten years ago, I decided to start a band and perform with it. The simple pleasure of being able to play and perform my own music—I think all these collaborations I’ve been a part of—certainly gave me the desire to be a leader as well. I believe this isn’t a transition in my career, but simply a continuation. My drumming style, derived partly from my classical studies at the conservatory, is part of this desire to express musical and melodic things while being a drummer.
PAN M 360: What music has changed your musical trajectory even slightly over the past decade?
Manu Katché: I listen to a lot of different things. Aside from metal, perhaps, everything else gives me a lot of pleasure as long as the music touches me. This can range from hip-hop to jazz to mainstream music. I evolve like any human being; the music I listen to nourishes me and allows me to progress culturally. Trends are present regularly, and I find that this new generation of musicians is offering truly beautiful musical works through their projects.
PAN M 360: Since the release of The Scope six years ago this month, what has happened musically for you?
Manu Katché: Let’s unfortunately remember that we had to endure two difficult years, deprived of our time due to COVID. As soon as we were “allowed” to travel freely again, I went on a world tour with Peter Gabriel, after participating in the i/o album. Just before that, I collaborated on Sting’s album: The Bridge.
I’ve also recorded several jazz albums with various artists, American, French, and Belgian. I co-produced three albums for Michel Jonasz—La Méouge, le Rhône, La Durance—Chanter le Blues, and the latest album, Soul, while participating in each of the tours for these albums and, more recently, the very beginning of this new tour for the Soul album. I’ve composed a brand new personal album that I’ll be recording soon. I’ve written and released my second book, #Beat, with Grasset.
PAN M 360: You’re also a broadcaster; you’ve done a lot of television work, sometimes on cultural topics but also on social issues such as racism and immigration (La Face Katché). How would you summarize this career as a broadcaster?
Manu Katché: La face katché is a program found on the website “Yahoo.fr.” I’m very proud of it because I’ve interviewed, and continue to do so, a good number of people from diverse backgrounds. I think it’s important to talk about it, and above all without aggression, which, in my opinion, is a positive opportunity for understanding difference. Understanding where certain people come from, what their childhood was like, how they had to position themselves simply to be able to live normally, without bitterness, animosity, or jealousy. I think we all had complex or difficult childhoods, some of them due to violent, uneducated, or absent families. The fact that we have a different profile, whether visibly or not, doesn’t allow some people to understand or even judge. With this program, I try to highlight these difficulties and differences so that understanding and acceptance are more present.
PAN M 360: How do you see your recent role as a host?
Manu Katché: I don’t see anything specific, I don’t calculate anything, I simply do the things that are important to me with all my heart!
PAN M 360: Do you see a link between your media career and your musical career?
Manu Katché: It seems to me that we act according to our personalities. It’s impossible for me to dissociate myself for one project or another; I would be in disharmony and therefore not myself. I am in tune with my intuition, my instinct, and my knowledge to deliver something sincere and honest. There are musicians who don’t speak out, others who will, some who will campaign for a cause, others not, it doesn’t matter. Knowing how to position yourself, being in your place with respect for others without judgment.
MANU KATCHÉ PLAYS 12 CONCERTS IN QUÉBEC, FROM MARCH 12 – 30. MONTRÉAL, TROIS-RIVIÈRES, LAVAL, TERREBONNE, SHERBROOKE, JOLIETTE, SAINT-HYACINTHE, REPENTIGNY, GATINEAU, DRUMMONDVILLE, QUÉBEC, SAGUENAY, RIMOUSKI
BILLETS ET INFOS POUR LE STUDIO TD MERCREDI 12 MARS
BILLETS POUR SALLE ANDRÉ-MATHIEU, SAMEDI 15 MARS
BILLETS POUR SALLE JEAN-GRIMALDI DU THÉÂTRE DESJARDINS, DIMANCHE 23 MARS
BILLETS ET INFOS POUR LE PALAIS MONTCALM, VENDREDI 28 MARS
