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I was born in Paris, France, on a snowy night, February 27, 1974. Soon after, my parents moved to a cute little town, Chartrettes, and then a few miles further, to Fontainebleau. I started classical piano at the age of 4, following my mumís path. I took private lessons for 12 years.
 
     At home, we grew up with mainly 70ís rock, my parents were big fans of Pink Floyd, the Police, The Rolling Stones, Carlos SantanaÖ70ís Rock is the soundtrack of my childhood. My favorite band of all time was and still is Pink Floyd. I donít think anybody reached my soul deeper than they did.

     My craving for playing the guitar started at 15, after seeing my Uncle playing the blues on his old Fender Stratocaster (he is still one of the most beautiful and sensitive player Iíve ever heard). He went with me to buy my first guitar, taught me a few things. Having some piano background definitely was a great help in terms of understanding the fingerboard, and moving the fingers.

     It was also at that time that I discovered the concept of improvisation. Coming from a classical background, I always thought that music was written, before being performed. My teacher showed me a pentatonic scale and told me that with these 5 notes, I could improvise melodies all night long on a blues, and thatís basically what I did. I started improvising on all my records, and transcribed everything I could. I lived in a small town, with not much to do, so I spent many hours every day practicing.

     Around that time I started playing in Rock bands, practicing more and more, and getting really into Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Joe Satriani. I got my high School diploma at 19, and was finally
free to play music full time. I knew by then that I couldnít do anything else in my life. It was now decided, I will be a musician!

     I was 20 when I discovered Django Reinhardt. I just started my studies at the American School in Paris, in Jazz Composition and Arranging. I didnít like or know anything about Jazz at that time, but I knew I had to study it, in order to go further into Music and Improvisation.

     My private teacher was Laurent Hestin (one of the greatest guitarists Iíve ever heard) who was performing sometimes with Babik Reinhardt (Djangoís son). I asked him to show me a few Jazz songs, and he taught me ìMinor Swingî, a famous composition from Django. I loved it. It was simple, and very musical. So when it was time for me to buy my first Jazz CD, I bought ìDjangology 49î, because Django was the only name I knew at that time. I had barely heard about Miles Davis or John Coltrane then. So when I came back home and played the CD for the first time, it was a big shock. I had never heard music like that. It was very dissonant and consonant at the same time, very mysterious and magical. I immediately started to transcribe his solo.

     Only a couple of weeks later, was the Django Reinhardt festival, in Samois, near Fontainebleau. I went there to see what it was about. This is where I witnessed Gypsy Jazz live for the first time. First, the Gypsies were just sitting and playing. I mean, one guy would take a guitar, strum a few chords, another one would sit, theyíd start a tune, another one would join, then another one. After three minutes, 5 or 6 guys were playing some of the most beautiful and complex music Iíve ever heard! You could tell also that they didnít rehearse or anything. They just sat and played.

     The same afternoon, the band Latcho Drom performed on the main stage, and these guys blew my mind forever (I still think their first album, ìLa Sorciereî is one of the greatest Gypsy Jazz albums ever recorded). I knew then that I found my purpose in life. My missionÖ.to study and perform this music, and make it the center of my journey.

     Shortly after, I met Serge Krief, who taught me basically everything I know in Gypsy Jazz. I learned rhythm with Moreno, and also took a couple of lessons with Angelo Debarre. I remember going every Thursday to Sergeís apartment, the lessons would last all day. He would cook chicken for lunch, two pounds each of the most amazing fried chicken wings. Then, weíd go back to our guitars and continue to play for the rest of the day. What a blast!

     At the same time I started going regularly to the Zieglerís Gypsy Campsite, to play with two amazing guitarists, Emmanuel Kassimo and Tifrere Ziegler. We were just playing guitar all day, until the sun would go down, song after song, hour after hour. It was a blessing. I learned a lot about kindness, generosity and the soul with them. A very important aspect of their lives is non-attachment to material things, and a great connection with spirituality. Traveling starts in the head, and is the key to playing this music. You have to have a free soul.

     After graduating from the American School of Modern music, I got a scholarship to go study at Berklee College of Music, in Boston. That was my biggest dream as an adult, and as a musician, so it was very exciting. Living in the U.S. was also my biggest childhood dream. I always had an intense fascination for this country, and I always had the feeling that I would one day move here. Life part 2 started for me then.

     At Berklee, I studied mainly contemporary Jazz improvisation. But I also studied foundations of Indian rhythms, ragas, middle eastern improvisationsÖ
A lot of students were foreigners, and we all got together regularly to jam and exchange info on our musical roots. It was 24 hour music for 2 yearsÖ
      During this time I met Jared Engel. I knew he was an upright bass player, but the first time I heard him play was on banjo, in the Boston subway. He was singing and playing some old bluegrass solo pieces. I felt the beauty of his soul and his tremendous musicianship. It happened at that time that my bass player had just left Boston. I asked Jared to play with us (we had a residency at that club called ìthe Middle Eastî, every Friday night), and it was the beginning of our musical journey.

     We soon moved to NYC, and started to play everywhere. Clubs, pubs, restaurantsÖ every gig we could possibly find. This is how we met David Langlois. He approached us, and told us he was playing washboard, and that he just arrived and was looking for some people to play with. Intrigued, we asked him to come jam with us. He came with that weird homemade washboard, boosted with pots and tools of all sorts, but only to play some sophisticated stuff. We loved his playing and his originality right away, and he naturally became a permanent member of the band.

     One of our big encounters was with the legendary mandolin player, David Grisman. We recorded an album together, unfortunately still not released at this time, called ìthe Gypsy Rumbleî, produced by Amoeba music. We played for a California tour, and South by Southwest together, and I hope that we will have the opportunity to perform together again. He is a very intense player, and Mandolin is a great instrument to incorporate in what we do.

Now, we are composing and playing Gypsy music with our own sound, blending influences from all over the world, allowing room for space and more rhythm possibilities. I call it Gypsy Jam.


     Our new album will be released November 22nd 2006, at Joeís Pub, NYC, and is going to be the start of the next step for our band, and the continuation of a fabulous adventure.