Jean, you were involved in creating Julien's new show "Entre Nous". What exactly did your work consist of? Was it mainly rewriting and re-arranging?
Yes, we had to re-write all the material used in the new show. Basic ally, it was a question of paring everything down and arranging the songs in a simpler way. In fact, it was a bit like being a conjuror really - we had to create a certain illusion. Julien had to be able to get up there on stage with just two musicians and do this very personal, magical show without the audience feeling that the original songs had lost something in the transition. We didn't want the whole thing to end up looking ridiculous, after all.
When we first started working on the project, I came up with a concept for each song. But my original concepts gradually got changed as we went along. You know, we decided that we'd have to do a certain song an octave higher, another one an octave lower etc. Then we had to change a few other things because we realised certain instrumental passages wouldn't work so well on stage. The main priority was that Julien had to like everything. I would show him my re-arrangements, then if he didn't like them we'd sit down and discuss things and I'd go away and make a few changes. One of the main problems was that Julien - as he'll be the first to admit - is not a virtuoso pianist. So we couldn't write super-complicated pieces for him. We had to find arrangements that corresponded to his level. Originally, I really wanted the focus to be on the musicians working on stage during the show - but in the final version you don't actually get to see much of that, after all.

You've written material for a host of famous French artists. But you've never actually written any original material for Julien. Why is that?
Well, for the very good reason that Julien writes all the music for his own songs, so my work would just be limited to the lyrics. On the song "Je suis planté", the music was actually written by Astor Piazzolla. But that's an exception! Julien wrote the rest.

You had your own singing career at one stage of the game, didn't you? Do you miss singing at all now?
Well, yes and no really. I do in a way because singing gives you an extraordinary sense of satisfaction. But only if you can sing what you want … The problem with my singing carer was that the way things were going I couldn't really do what I wanted. So - when you look at things from that point of view - no, I don't miss my singing career at all! I wouldn't have wanted to end up having anything imposed on me.

And what about your famous hit in the 80's? Would you say that was a good thing for your career or not?
Well, I'd have to say yes and no again. I mean, in many respects it was wonderful having a song that went rocketing to the top of the charts. But the problem was that it really cut me off from my true profession - being a musician. You know, after I had that hit people started considering me as a singer and forgetting that I was a musician. Everything changed. It was like I stopped being a musician from one day to the next! Here in North America things are a bit different. Artists can launch a singing career without abandoning their status as a musician. But in France you're not allowed to do both! In an interview you gave back in 1985 you talked about French artists having an inferiority complex towards their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. Do you still think that's the case today?
No, I don't. Things have changed a lot. These days French artists are a lot more confident about themselves and their music. I think, in many ways, today we're actually ahead of Anglo-Saxon artists in many fields. And believe me, my experiences in America have made me even more certain of that! Take the sound system on our current tour for example. Contrary to popular belief that the Americans are light years ahead on sound quality, we've had pretty poor sound equipment on the show up till now! And that's a big deal when you're working on an acoustic show like this where sound quality is all-important.

(photo : Jean and sound engineer Aldo Pedron)

You've worked with a lot of famous French singers in the course of your career - Maxime Le Forestier, Serge Lama and now Julien Clerc. But what about the younger generations?
Well, it's certainly true to say I haven't worked with the youngest of the lot! But I think that's a very French thing, you know, not encouraging older and younger generations to mix. When it comes to working with the new generation of French artists, it's my sons (Julien and Olivier) who are in demand. They're both doing really well for themselves right now. But don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against working with younger artists. I think it would be really amazing to work with someone like Sinclair for example. But then again, it's more likely to be my sons who'll get the chance to do that.

Would you really jump at the chance of working with Sinclair?
Yes, I would! But the person I'd really, really like to work with right now is an artist from my own generation - Alain Bashung. I love Bashung's music. Besides, he must be one of the few French artists I've never actually written for. But recently I've been too busy working with Julien to think about doing anything else.
But it's great working with him. The fact of having worked with Julien Clerc will look very good on my C.V.! His songs are incredibly beautiful, they've got real class. Julien's got a lot of talent and working with him means you get the chance to do something really good. The only downside is that working with Julien means I get a bit pigeon-holed. People think I only do this kind of music and I'm not interested in anything else. I must say I've really enjoyed working on "Entre Nous" over the last year and a half, but now I'm ready to do something a bit different.

Is Julien's American tour different from what you did before?
Oh yes, it's completely different! We've been really surprised at how many people have come to see the show. There are obviously a lot of French people in the audience most nights, but even so there's an amazing amount of English speakers too! We're really happy it's turned out this way!

And what about the next leg of the tour in Asia? How do you think the show will go down there?
Well, that's the big question. Nobody knows! I think it will probably be exhausting but extremely enjoyable. But I can't say much more than that right now - I mean, really, anything could happen in Asia!

Interview: Catherine Pouplain
Translation: Julie Street
Photos : CP