Jean-Michel Jarre

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Jean-Michel Jarre
Jarre in Poland, 2005
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Jarre in Poland, 2005
Born August 24, 1948
Lyon, France
Died

Jean-Michel André Jarre (born August 24, 1948 in Lyon, France) is a French composer and producer. He is the son of Maurice Jarre, a composer of film music, and France Pejot. Jarre is regarded as one of the pioneers in the electronic music genre, as well as an innovator, for staging spectacular outdoor concerts of his music, which feature laser displays and fireworks, linking music with architecture and environment.

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Musical career

Jean-Michel circa 1976
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Jean-Michel circa 1976

Jarre began studying piano at the age of five, but he abandoned his classical training. During his youth he formed a band called Mystere IV. In late 1960s he started experimenting with tape loops, radios and other electronic devices, until, in 1968, he joined the Groupe de Recherches Musicales, under the direction of Pierre Schaeffer, the "father" of musique concrète, where he was introduced to synthesizers.

Oxygene was Jarre's breakthrough album.
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Oxygene was Jarre's breakthrough album.

In the mid 1970s, Jarre secured a recording contract with Polydor. His first album for them, Oxygene, was released in 1976. Contrasted with his contemporaries, such as the rather clinical, hard, futuristic sound of Kraftwerk, or the more 'cosmic' and murky Tangerine Dream, Oxygene had a lush, spacey and strongly melodic sound, and was a big commercial success worldwide. The track Oxygene Part IV was released as a single and became one of the best-known pieces of electronic music ever. Key components of Jarre's sound included his use of the Electroharmonix Small Stone phaser on synthetic string pads, and liberal use of echo on various sound effects generated by the VCS3 synthesizer.

In 1978, his second album Equinoxe was released. Jarre developed his sound, employing more dynamic and rhythmic elements, particularly a greater use of sequencing on basslines. Much of this was achieved using custom equipment developed by his collaborator Michel Geiss. The release followed by a concert in Paris on the Place de la Concorde in Paris in 1979. This concert attracted one million people, which was Jarre's first entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest crowd at an outdoor concert.

In October 1981, Jarre was the first Western pop-artist who was granted permission to give concerts in the People's Republic of China.

In 1983 he created the album Musique pour supermarchés (Music for supermarkets), which had a print run of only a single copy. The album was made expressly to voice Jarre's distaste and disregard for the music business. Jarre destroyed all the master records from his studio work, allowed a radio station (Radio Luxembourg) to broadcast the album once and auctioned it, raising £10,000 for French artists. People recorded the album using their tape recorders while it was broadcast on the radio, so we can listen to that album, at a very poor quality though (the radio station was an AM station). Songs from this album were later reworked into future albums.

In 1986 NASA and the city of Houston asked him to do a concert to celebrate NASA's 25th anniversary and the city of Houston 150th anniversary. During that concert, astronaut Ronald McNair was to play the saxophone part of Jarre's piece Rendez-Vous VI while in orbit on board the Space Shuttle Challenger. It was to have been the first piece of music recorded in space, for the album Rendez-Vous. After the Challenger disaster of January 28, 1986 which killed McNair, the piece was recorded with a different saxophonist, retitled Ron's piece and the album dedicated to the seven Challenger astronauts. The Houston concert entered the Guinness Book of Records for the audience of over 1.5 million.

In 1988 Jarre, along with guests such as Hank Marvin, the legendary guitarist from The Shadows, performed in front of the industrial backdrop of London's East End Docklands, in a concert entitled Destination Docklands.

On July 14, 1990 Jean Michel broke his own record in Guinness Book of Records again with a concert in La Defense, Paris where 2.5 million people watched Jarre light up the Parisian business district.

On September 6, 1997 Jarre played in Moscow to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the city. The Moscow State University was used as the backdrop for a spectacular display of image projections, skytrackers and fireworks, with an audience of 3.5 million, Jarre's fourth record for the biggest concert audience ever.

In 1999 he created a spectacular music and light show in the Egyptian desert, near Giza. The show, called The 12 Dreams of the Sun, celebrated the new millennium and 5000 years of civilization in Egypt. It also offered a preview of his new album, Metamorphoses.

In 2001 Jarre performed a concert in collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke and Tetsuya Komuro in the Okinawa beaches, to celebrate the "real" beginning of the new millennium. The concert was called Rendez-vous in Space and the group called itself The ViZitors. Later that year, he played at the Acropolis in Greece.

In 2002 he performed the AERO concert at Grammel Vrå Enge wind farm, just outside Aalborg in Denmark, to a rather wet audience of approximately 50,000.

On October 10, 2004 he gave a big concert in the Forbidden City and the Tiananmen Square in China, to commemorate the "Year of France in China". The audience comprised about 15,000 spectators, most of them special guests. This concert was broadcast in HDTV with 5.1 sound by some satellite channels. 5.1 sound was also used on the stage.

On August 26, 2005 he performed a long concert "Space of Freedom" in Gdańsk, Poland, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity. There were circa 120,000 people at the concert. Lech Wałęsa was present on stage.

On September 10th 2005 Jarre performs at the LinX Live Show for the Official Opening of the Eurocam Media Centre, containing Belgian HDTV Company Euro1080's NEW HDTV Studios, in Lint, Belgium.

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Personal life

Jarre was married to British actress and photographer Charlotte Rampling from October 7, 1978 until circa 1998. In 2002 he became engaged to French actress Isabelle Adjani, but later she ended this relationship. Jarre married French actress Anne Parillaud on May 12, 2005.

Jarre has three children: Emilie (from his first marriage to Flore Guillard, whom he married on January 20, 1975), Barnaby Southcombe (Charlotte Rampling's son from a previous marriage) and David (Charlotte and Jean-Michel's son).

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Awards and recognitions

By 2005 he has sold an estimated 72 million albums and singles over his career.

An asteroid, 4422 Jarre, has been named in honor of him and his father.

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Discography

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Studio albums

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Live albums

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Remixes

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Compilations

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Video

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Concerts

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Main concerts

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Other performances

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Instruments

Throughout his concerts Jarre uses several unusual or custom instruments. Some of these are:

  • The theremin, the first electronic instrument.
  • The laser harp.
  • The digisequencer and matrisequencer, electronic sequencers designed and built by Michel Geiss.
  • The LAG Circulaire, Magic Keyboard and other custom keyboards (usually of semi-circular shape) made by LAG.
  • The Moster, a percussive MIDI controller with the shape of two light boxes.
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See also

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External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Jarre"
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