I am a 66 year-old amateur musician who plays the guitar, bass, keyboards and harmonica. I have been playing music since I was 15. I started with folk music and rock music, I also played all sorts of styles, including rock, reggae, latino and pop in various dance or blues bands. I started studying jazz in the mid 80's on the guitar and I shifted to the jazz organ in the late 90s, but I had played the organ and keyboards since I was 19.
My main influences are Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Jimmy Smith, George Benson, Miles Davies, Rhoda Scott, Procol Harum, Steve Windwood, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bill Evans, The Band, etc... .
At the moment I play the organ with a guitarist and a drummer in a jazz trio called FMR Jazz Trio.
I also play traditional and contemporary folk and blues with another guitarist and a bass guitarist, our band is called Long Tall Bob & Franck. We mainly play traditional and contemporary folk music and also blues. I learnt a lot about folk music techniques with musicians when I played in British pubs and folk clubs.
My instruments are an Ovation Balladeer electro-acoustic guitar, a Washburn 5-string banjo, a Charvell-Jackson electric guitar equipped with SH070 Shadow converter for midi, a Fender Precision bass guitar, a VK 77 combo jazz organ with a PK 77 pedal board and a 2021 Leslie cabinet plus a Peavey KB 100 amplifier for the bass rotor, Korg X3 and Yamaha DX11 synthetizers, and YamahaTG 55 and TX81Z expanders. I use a Yamaha QY100 hardware sequencer for practising and composing. I play several Hohner Blues Harps.
I use Cubase 5 Studio for demos and work. I edit synths with Emagic's Sound Diver. I started computer music on the Atari in 1987, so I have lived up to the whole Cubase story as I began with Pro 24.
I am a member of Jazzogène, which organizes jazz concerts and workshops in Périgueux.