Manu Katché
@ the PizzaExpress Jazz Club
14 November 2015
Click an image to enlarge.
Biography
Parisian born Manu Katché was a respected session player
in Paris before coming to international recognition through his
stylish work with Peter Gabriel on the influential 1986 album ‘So.’
He combined percussive brilliance with an unmistakable groove in
a manner not heard before and overnight became the drummer everyone
wanted.
As a young boy Katché briefly studied ballet and played
piano at age seven. He took up drums when he was 13 and then, from
age 15 he spent four years at music school studying classical and
tuned percussion. He did so well he was awarded a place at classical
conservatory, but decided to make his living playing the drum set
instead. He began by playing jazz and fusion gigs, but always approaching
the drums with his percussionist’s sensibility. Indeed, over
the years, Katché got to play a lot of Cuban and African
percussion as well as drums. Eventually, it was as a successful
session drummer in Paris that he was brought to the attention of
Peter Gabriel by Gabriel’s bass player Tony Levin. From this
moment his life would change dramatically.
Manu Katché is a sensitive, stylish and cultured man, far
removed from the public’s crude image of the brutish drummer.
He introduces inventive percussive elements to major rock recordings,
adding splash cymbal stabs, trills on cymbal bells and punctuating
ruffs on his toms. The effect is to create dynamic and shifting
textures while never losing the momentum. And he can groove hard,
as on Gabriel’s monster hit ‘Sledgehammer.’ Rather
appropriately he plays thumbs-up as in French timpani grip, which
is also the African way of drumming. He often plays rim-shots on
his toms - a reminder of his years playing the timbales - and this
creates another aspect of his distinctive sound.
All these stylistic trademarks combined to cast new light on the
work of great song writers like Sting, Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson
and Joan Armatrading. Many of the albums he played on have come
to be recognised as classics, amongst the best work of these top
artists. Albums such as Sting’s ‘The Soul Cages’
and Joan Armatrading’s ‘Hearts and Flowers.’ For
a while Katché seemed to be everywhere. Then inevitably he
took some much needed time out before returning in 2000 to tour
once more with Sting, promoting the album ‘Brand New Day.’
Today Katché’s list of credits covers a huge diversity
of artists, including Michael Macdonald, Simple Minds, Dire Straits,
The Bee Gees, Tears For Fears, Tori Amos, Tracy Chapman, the Gypsy
Kings, Youssou N’ Dour, Al Dimeola, Jan Garbarek and Joe Satriani.
|