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patrick saussois
Comments
~ Phil
I met him at the after concert house jam of DFNW '06 Such a wonderful man. Wish I could have spoken French beyond just shaking hands. He had a smile on his face when Phil took a solo on "Norwegian Dance" that I remember vividly. Very excellent arranger/producer of CDs as well. I use part of his "Lentement Mademoiselle" arrangement.
Rocky
Here's hoping for his speedy recovery.
One of my first experiences at Samois in 2000 was watching Archtop Eddy purchase a lefty guitar from Patrick and later on watching Patrick, Danny Givone and Matcho Winterstein play informally on the patio of Chez Fernand.
Get better my friend.
As Wayne noted, I've known Patrick since 2000. Within 45 minutes of arriving at the Charles de Gaulle airport, my friend Pascal took me and my wife Laura down to an FAC record store where Patrick was playing a short set with Alma Sinti. I couldn't believe it. Here it was--less than an hour in France--and we were already hearing live Gypsy jazz! I said to Pascal, "Let's go talk to him." This was easy for me to say since I didn't speak French and Pascal would have to do all the talking. Pascal asked what are we going to talk to him about? I said, "Ask him if he wants to sell his guitar!" It was a dumb idea, but I figured it would get us talking. It turned out to our surprise, he did want to sell the guitar (it was a Germone and a bit too big for him), and he invited us over to his house the next day where he and his lovely wife Laudie treated us like special guests. He showed me about a dozen lefty Gypsy jazz guitars (an unbelievable number for someone who had only seen one lefty GJ guitar in my entire life!), and he let me play his Jacques Favino. I wanted that guitar very, very badly and asked if he would ever sell it to let me know. He then took us down to his local pub and introduced us to all his neighborhood friends. While Patrick was not ready to let the Favino go, he was ready to sell the Gerome so we agreed to finalize the deal at Samois on the island. This is where Wayne and his wife Barbara watched us make the deal. There are photos of it somewhere. I remember Patrick took the money and immediately gave it to Phillipe Moneret to commission another Gerome -- this time with a slightly smaller body. Later, during the evening, Laura and I were walking in the crowd in front of the Samois stage when Lawdie comes running up to find us. She speaks to Laura (who speaks a bit of French), and they both look at me wide-eyed saying that Patrick is looking for me because he wants me to play with him on stage -- on stage at Samois!! My legs turned to jello and I vigorously refused. I'd only been playing GJ for about a year, and I felt it was far too early for me to go on the Mother of all GJ stages! Patrick went on without me and, of course, it was a wonderful show. I will always remember his generous offer to me that day. That is the kind of great person he is!
Oddly enough, two weeks ago I started playing the Gerome again. I used it for a gig and throughout thought what a fine guitar it was. This was three days before I heard about his stroke. Since then, I've decided I will continue playing the Gerome for a while to remind me of him and to keep my prayers going for him. I feel I owe it to myself and Patrick to play the best I can on the Gerome.
As for the Favino, I ended up eventually getting it as well. As some of you may remember Patrick played it at DFNW 2003. It was great seeing him and the Favino back together then.
Patrick has many great stories to tell about the old school players. One of his best friends was Babik. Each time I saw him, his English had improved and our bond seemed to grow because of it. I surely wasn't holding up my part, because my French -- in a word -- sucks. I hope Patrick makes a recovery because we need his talent, his stories, and his soul and spirit with us. I don't usually ask for things like this, but please all, put him in your thoughts and prayers.
A.E.
Patrick was not only one of the great Gypsy guitarists of his generation, but also played a big part in the preservation and revival of the genre. His Djaz label re-released seminal classics like Privat/Ferret's Manouche Partie and his group Alma Sinti helped to introduce contemporary audiences to Jazz Manouche. With all this interest in this music nowadays, it's easy to forget guys like Patrick were almost totally ignored in the 80s. Nobody wanted to hear Gypsy jazz back then...so he was a "keeper of the flame" if you will.
Patrick was also a hell of a lot fun at Troy's usual after-parties during Djangofest!
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