EN-BIOGRAPHY | chardeau

BIOGRAPHY

Arty-Progressive Rock or Baroque Pop-Jazz fusion? This nonconformist character does not care about being labeled. For the past two decades, he has been pursuing his off-the-track creative madness, the antithesis of marketing and a trendy buzz.

Chardeau surely has a singular persona. Offbeat, he surprises and stands out from the musical landscape. His style evokes a jumble of Buffalo Bill from a futuristic western, a Rock-leathered Gandalf, an SF adventurer, half Zappa half Corto Maltèse and a neo-druid lost in the 21st century ... What else can one say to describe this friendly crank that you would think emerged straight out of "Back to the future"? Above all, he is a songwriter, composer, performer, is born under the Aries sign with Aries rising and he also plays, amongst other instruments, self-ridicule and excessiveness.

Certainly unusual, Chardeau is one of a kind. He is like Captain Nemo of an incredible ship. For the past two decades he has been creating retro-futuristic music that is flamboyant and powerful, rich and colourful, somewhere in between Chicago, Magma Spirit, Gotainer, Genesis (from the Peter Gabriel period) and Stravinsky. Baroque, Rock, Jazz, Classical ... Chardeau draws from all these sources provided they are truly artistic. We embark on musical journeys punctuated with stops 20,000 leagues up in the air, in a symphonic and instinctual odyssey, orchestrated the American way with an eccentric and incredible musicality.

Chardeau’s route is marked out by several musical milestones :

Escales (first Electric Rock album in 1989 with his band Chardo's Airlines), Data pulsions (1999), Hors Portée (two versions released in 2005: Highlight and Instrumental), Integraal (a 5+1 audio DVD never released) ... Throughout his career, Chardeau has always called on the crème de la crème of French musicians (Bernard Paganotti, Basile Leroux, Claude Salmieri, Didier Malherbe, Bernard Lajudie, arranger Richard Aubert ...).

He reached another milestone in 2010 with the album Resilience recorded mainly in Los Angeles with the support of an exceptional team. Starting with his friends (yes, really ...) Jerry Goodman (the magical violinist from the John McLaughlin Mahavishnu Orchestra) who is the artistic director of the album and Robert Lamm (keyboard player, songwriter and singer from Chicago, a band he is an unconditional fan of ), all of them being stars of the Chardeau Circus.

According to the principle "friends of my friends are my friends," came to play alongside Chardeau: keyboard player Brian Auger (Rod Steward, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin), Chris Pinnick (Chicago guitarist), bassist Reggie Hamilton (Luther Vandross, John Mellencamp, Seal, Tina Turner), percussionist Lenny Castro (Toto, Stevie Wonder, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Quincy Jones, David Sanborn, Ricky Lee Jones, Wayne Shorter), pianist Shelton Berg (Kiss, Joe Cocker ...) and drummer Curt Bisqueira (Elton John, John Fogerty, Nelly Furtado, James Taylor, Dave Steward, Joni Mitchell). Pure awesomeness and immaculate-sounding” shouted out the fans!

This gives us even more reason to be interested in the artist, the composer and his incredible musicality! Three albums were released in 2012 to discover or re-discover him. A trilogy, initially released digitally and edited early in 2013, on vinyl for fans, aficionados of the LP, curious people, good music lovers, connoisseurs, nonconformists and the open-minded people:

- Resilience 2.0 > a first-class team choice! The last studio album, the 2012 version reproduced with ten titles. A rare encounter to listen to without restraint!

- Ze Best Off > an overview of Chardeau’s production over two decades, through 10 titles representing his jubilant and eccentric music that is ultimately timeless!

- For Sync. - Soundtrack for an imaginary film! > A double album of 24 instrumental tracks (original versions, alternative or unreleased, remastered or remixed) to discover not the artist but the composer, his cinematic writing and outstanding orchestrations.

Suite >>>

The spring of 2013 saw the release of Alternative Resilience, consisting of alternative remixes from the album "Resilience" concocted by John Van Eps in Houston, who worked with Chicago and was recommended to him by Robert Lamm. Revisited, re-appropriated, given a new dimension, taken to unexpected new heights and sounds, these remixes give a new breath, a new life, a new light to Chardeau’s musical world.

It is enough for now to wait for the new studio album that Chardeau prepares between France and the United States, always with an exceptional team, continuing to collaborate with Jerry Goodman, Hank Linderman, Brian Auger, John Van Eps.... with the addition of Mark Andes (Canned Heat, Spirit), Drew Hester (Foo Fighters) and a big band of horns.

Named Fauves & Pastels, the album - less Progressive Rock – tends to adopt a predominantly "west coast" style. It was released in Summer of 2014 and was digitally distributed internationally via the US label Muffin’ Records. The album then came out in France and in French-speaking territories via Your Label (PBC Music department) whom Chardeau entrusted with the marketing and promotional strategy of the disc.

The end of 2015 was marked by two exceptional concerts that were prepared several months ahead, which took place at the Gibus on 17th and 18th November, four days after the deadly attacks that shook Paris. A way for Chardeau not to give in to fear and to defend more than ever the freedom of expression that he wears loud and clear. A very intense moment, especially as Chardeau surrounded himself with Jerry Goodman, Hank Linderman, John Van Eps, George Hawkins Jr. (bassist for John Fogerty, Fleetwood Mac, Al Jarreau) and Bob Ramsey (Leon Russell keyboard), all of them coming especially from the United States.

After two singles extracted from Fauves & Pastels (My psychiatrist and Jane Parker), Chardeau publishes an EP remixes of the track L'Amour Rome Antique (renamed Love Antique for the occasion), a hot and unlikely clubbing getaway for the fans, while waiting for the album Sanguines, which appears in September 2017.

It contains 12 tracks, more "sociological" portraits than the previous one, with a more New York sound than Californian sound, a "funky Zappa" touch for instructions and a line-up always exceptional, bringing together US regulars of Chardeau and some surprises like John McFee (Doobie Brothers) and Walfredo Reyes Jr (Chicago, Santana). From this album will be highlighted tracks Photograf, Pub! and La nature est ainsi faite for summer single.

In 2018, the meeting between Chardeau and Alan Simon (Gaia, Excalibur, Tristan & Yseult ...) gives birth to a crazy project, called The Magical Musical Man, a crazy and intergalactic rock-opera whose Alan Simon signs the libretto and the setting scene. This extraordinary show will take place on 23 November 2019 at the Océanis (Ploemeur, near Lorient, Morbihan/France) with an exceptional cast. > Learn more about the event

This end of 2019 is also marked by the release, eight days earlier, of the brand new studio album, In Terra Cognita?, inspired by Chardeau's various travels around the planet and which is also the music of the show The Magical Musical Man. The disc enjoys international distribution by Cherry Red Records. > Learn more about the brand new album.