A   barge in a harbor... right downtown Paris...a village where everyone knows everyone else... a spring  morning... a friend on the deck of his boat... a bit farther, on another boat, an other fellow...MATHIEU (the famous comedian)... me at the door of my wheel house ... "Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself..." our three voices rise and mingle with the song of the birds... "and only stop to rest yourself, when the silver moon...is shinning high above the trees..."...the following morning MATHIEU  resounds again in our chorus above the Canal St Martin ...
MATHIEU  tells me  : "You should write some French Lyrics for this music ..."
A while later, Où tu n'sais pas  becomes the first number of a great project and, a few days after, the tune arrives at EMI Publishing cie ("EMI"  represents, in France, "Country Road" the TAYLOR's Publishing company in the USA). The publisher is very positive and encourages me to adapt more James TAYLOR  songs into French and to record them...

At this time,  I was invited by the French Cultural Services to perform in Kigali and to assume the heavy task of restarting French Cultural activities in Rwanda, after the terrible genocide...
In a state of shock, in this country where I  had performed many time before, and that I like and know  quite well... I wrote Faut-il encore 2000 ans? (will it take an other 2000 years ?) to the  music of  "Carolina in my Mind"...

Later on,  I met  James and he was very interested in what I was doing and asked me to send him all the new  lyrics... which I did.
During the summer of 2000,  I  wrote the arrangements and began to organize the schedule for recording  the new  album... I wanted to do something different and to add my mark and style... I followed my passion for string quartets and vocals and gathered my  musicians...
The recording was finished by the end of december ...

   


    







                   James TAYLOR and Eric VINCENT 


        Pierre CHERÈZE played the electric guitars, and we had great fun playing the acoustic ones together ...
        Sylvin MARC,  between two gigs with Chris REA,  played the bass in five songs...
        Vincent HAMAMDJIAN the  acoustic bass ...
        Roland ROMANELLI accordion...
        Fabien HAIMOVICI Drums...

I wrote the string quartet arrangements for the song  Où tu n'sais pas...My friend and mentor Jean BOUCHETY wrote the five others. The string quartets were performed  by Jean-Philippe AUDIN, Agnès TOUSSAINT, Eric LACROUTS and Franck AGIER.

The Malagasy singer Josée RABESON and the Brazilian singer Teca CALAZANS... brought a very special touch to the vocals, as well as Rita, Claudine,
Fabien... Working with the children Les Petits Citoyens, from the Music school of Laval, was very exciting. Fabrice and Hélène, soloists from  LesPetits Citoyens de Bonchamp, the kids with whom I produced  the record against violence Opération Boule de Neige (Operation Snow-ball), a few years ago, also were part of this children's group.

But without the mercilous comments and  the great  talent of my good friend musician-producer Vincent BRULEY,  this album wouldn't exist.
The record ends with Naissance d'une planète (the Birth of a planet), a piece written for six cellos by Jean BOUCHETY and  performed  with bravura by Jean-Philippe AUDIN.

Eric  VINCENT
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Back to Eric VINCENT                             Last revised on 04/28/20078 by Pierre SIMON - Madura Paris