Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Didier Lockwood was born on February 11, 1956 in Calais, France and began studying classical violin and composition at the Calais Conservatory at six years old. But thanks to his brother Francis, Didier’s world was opened to other forms of music and he quit his studies in 1972. Entranced by the improvisation of Jean-Luc Ponty’s playing he took up the amplified violin. He credits being influenced by Polish violinist Zbigniew Siefert and fellow Frenchman Stephane Grappelli with whom he toured. By 1975 he joined progressive rock group Magma followed by fusion group Uzeb.

During the 70’s he played in Paris with Aldo Romano and Daniel Humair among others, led a fusion group called Surya and recorded with Tony Williams. The 80’s saw Didier performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival teamed with guitarist Allan Holdsworth, bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, drummer Billy Cobham and keyboardist David Sancious, playing in the U.S. and recording with violin colleagues John Blake and Michal Urbaniak.

Lockwood’s career has been diverse ranging from fusion to swing to advanced hard bop but he first gained fame for exploring new musical landscapes and performing various sound imitations such as seagulls and trains. Although slated as the heir apparent to the line of great French violinists behind Grappelli and Ponty, by the nineties he maintained a very low profile. He established a string instrument improvisation school in 2001 called Centre des Musiques Didier Lockwood, has been touring with jazz guitarist Martin Taylor since 2006 and written several film scores.

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