Thomas Dutronc

V-dub

This may be common knowledge, but I was browsing wikipedia today looking up some info on French 60's icon Francoise Hardy (her birthday is coming up!), and it came to my surprise that her son is none other than Thomas Dutronc, of Bireli Lagrene's gypsy project.

That sorta blew my mind.

I was also pleased to find some videos of Thomas Dutronc, who really is a fine lead player in his own right:

the lovely Francoise Hardy



and son, Thomas Dutronc

playing some more traditional French waltz:

singing on some gypsy jazz influced pop:

a

i always wondered why that guy was in bireli's band.

Bob Holo

Thomas,

If you read this - I hope it doesn't gross you out because she is your mother and all... but I just have to say it....

"Your mom was a major babe!"

-Bob

brandoneon

a wrote:

i always wondered why that guy was in bireli's band.

It's definitely based mostly on the fame of his parents ... his father is the singer Jacques Dutronc. There's a video on the web of Thomas playing a decent Tears with Pierre Blanchard, although his guitar playing is nothing to write home about. I think his new gypsy pop album is kind of weak.

Apparently Thomas owns a Selmer that Django gave to the "Count of Paris" who in turn gave it to Jacques.

Rollerpunk

Jacques Dutronc is indeed very famous in France.
But i think the rythm skills of Thomas are good enough to have been chosen by Bireli to play with him. And not because of his name.

Anyway, his pop gipsy album is weak i agree !

Stackabones

I dig his new release. Solid, eclectic effort with a heavy GJ accent. Not for purists, however--but a very exciting release for those who already have enough versions of "Minor Swing" and are looking for something new. Imaginative & fascinating disc.

And he plays a grande bouche nylon!

gatsby

Indeed it is common knowledge here in France that Thomas Dutronc is the son of Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc, the cigar-man!

Thomas is really good at the rhythm guitar, there's no fussing about that!
But you have to know that having a family name such as Dutronc in France gives you advantages in the music sphere that are huge! It's the same kind of advantage Sean Lennon has with his (he's good, but the name helps!), or Doug Raney, Michael Douglas in cinema, etc... There are lots of them!

Here's the father! : (you have to listen to J'aime les filles... here, live: http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=4XW9S3ep8wI )

mr arp

I agree with V-dub that Thomas is actually a fine lead player as well (as rhythm). I have heard him on two occasions playing lead and he plays very thoughtfully and with a firm grasp of the style. You don't hear this in the pop clip, unfortunately.

V-dub

Here is a video of Mr. Dutronc playing "Tears" on his Grand Bouche nylon string guitar. Some lovely lead playing, clearly demonstrating that he's no slouch in that department!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7745521698

Stackabones

V-dub wrote:

Here is a video of Mr. Dutronc playing "Tears" on his Grand Bouche nylon string guitar. Some lovely lead playing, clearly demonstrating that he's no slouch in that department!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7745521698

Every time I see that clip, I love it a little more.

WowBobWow

Thanks Vic ~

These are nice clips. Thomas is a great player and it's great to see him doing his own thing.

I remember catching him with Bireli during the gipsy project yoshi shows years ago, and he was very modest about his fantastic playing. I pressed him for getting a lesson but he was adamant about not being a teacher.

In regards to the latter clip, it's too bad there aren't jazz shows like that on US tv. A few years ago when I had cable there was an awesome Canadian channel that had live jazz 24 hours a day, it was great to see live jazz whenever I needed a fix. It'd be great if a new "Jazz Casual" would spring up, or, better yet, a g-jazz program on the net or cable. Letterman or Leno should include jazz rather than the usual teenie pop/ rock bands. But I digress.

Hope your moving is going well and looking forward to playing soon !