Interview with Daniéle Feuillerat

Interview with Daniele Feuillerat

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In January 2013 DISQUES DREYFUS , veteran and legendary French label founded on the effort and artistic flair of its promoter FRANCIS DREYFUS ( 1940-2010 ) , ceased to exist as an independent entity and was going to be part of the giant BMG . Inevitably the future of plump nude woman illustrating the characteristic company logo appears indistinct and its extensive catalog of recordings artists, among them names like CHRISTOPHE, FRANÇOIS DE ROUBAIX, BLUE VAMP, BAHAMAS or JEAN MICHEL JARRE , abandoned the possibility of a hypothetical republication or forgotten, in the worst case .

With the death of FRANCIS DREYFUS producer in mid-2010 because of cancer, few people can relate with great detail and based on comprehensive information that was “the adventure Motors”, the seed of FRANCIS DREYFUS MUSIC and its label DREYFUS JAZZ, the rise and demise of the company that allowed JEAN MICHEL JARRE to be a star .

One of those few people isf Daniele Feuillerat, for more than 30 years publishing director od FRANCIS DREYFUS MUSIC ( FDM), plus production assistant in shows like ” Rendez -Vous Houston ” or the intriguing concert tour in China 1981. She met a young JARRE as a lyricist , he witnessed his departure from the maison after publication ” Metamorphoses ” and return to ” Essentials & Rarities ” .

Daniele has agreed to collaborate closely with FAIRLIGHT JARRE with a project that began more than a year ago, lending itself to review carefully the history of JEAN MICHEL JARRE and DISQUES DREYFUS, that is, in a sense, our own story.

PART I: BEGINNINGS …………………………………………………………………3 PART II: PLACE DE LA CONCORDE……………………………………………..12 PART III: RELATIONSHIP BREAKDOWN………………………………………30

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PART I: BEGINNINGS You started very early to work in the musical and publishing world. Tell us about your early career.

I was living in Cannes since the age of 12 and took my Baccalaureat in 1970.

I went to Norwich in England at the University of East Anglia as a visiting student for one year … and stayed 3 years altogether (1971-1974). At the time, England was THE place to live as far as music was concerned ; all the pop, rock bands were English : David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen/Freddy Mercury, Deep Purple, Eric Burdon, Roxy Music, etc.

After the first year as a student I did several small jobs as a temporary secretary, often at the University.

When I came back to Paris, I had to find a long-term job with my skills : shorthandtyping + fluent English + a good Rock-’n'roll and jazz-fusion music culture. I found an ad in the newspaper for a bilingual secretary in a Music Publishing company called Editions Labrador (owned by Francis Dreyfus). I did not know exactly what a music publishing company was, just noted the word “music” in the activity which was good enough for me. I got the job. I became the secretary/assistant to both Francis Dreyfus and the International Manager.

We are in 1975. In that year you started working for DREYFUS, I guess in the Motors label (or possibly in Editions Labrador). What were exactly your responsibilities?

As I said above I joined the company as a simple Bilingual Secretary and got to learn « on the spot » all the aspects of the music trade, and to particularly like the music publishing activity. When I became experienced enough in this field, I became Publishing Manager and abandoned my P.A. job for Francis Dreyfus who hired another assistant.

Definitely FRANCIS DREYFUS routed your professional career. Did you know him before you start working for his music publishing? How was that first meeting with Mr. DREYFUS? As I said, I knew nothing about the Music Industry and Francis Dreyfus was an unknown name and personality to me. With this job I got to learn by myself all about him and the music trade itself.

Francis – people would not guess it – was a kind of shy person and a bit « cold » and not always doing much to make you feel at ease or explain things. I was just a secretary that he was sharing with the International Manager.

4 It took me a couple of years to get used to his character and slowly confidence was established between us. Gradually, I took more responsibilities in the publishing company and became a closer collaborator of Francis.

A few years ago RAFAEL REVERT –the only one Spanish musical journalist who attended the China concerts in 1981- defined FRANCIS DREYFUS as “a smart guy, very clever, very proper and polite, and very friendly. A man of world that gets everywhere, he spents the money where it should, he dresses fucking elegant”. What can you say about FRANCIS, your boss and the man?

I have spent 35 years of my life with him ; all along these years, the good ones and the bad ones, I always had an immense respect for his personality, his charisma, his vision, his megalomania, his success, his class, his great culture, his sense of humour, his generosity and … his bad faith.

But, above all, he was a real music man, a real record producer, one of those independent “entrepreneurs” who lead the music business in France since the 60’s. A man to admire for his achievements.

I guess working at a record company that was hired to the musical idols of the moment (CHRISTOPHE, LAVILLIERS…) your life is no longer normal, in some senses. Tell me, how did your life changed?

I remember my EP’s of Christophe when I was 12-14, « Les Marionnettes » and « Aline ». I remember listening on the radio to the song « Senorita » back in 1974 discovering that Christophe was the singer. I realy liked that song. So when I discovered one year later that the main artist of the company was the same Christophe, I was all excited and thought it was a good start. I discovered Lavilliers only when I joined Dreyfus. He left the label a couple of years after I joined it.

I cannot say that my life changed a lot because I loved music already, knew what MIDEM was (I was a schoolgirl in Cannes when the first MIDEM was organised in 1967), so I soon got into it. The nice thing was that I got to know everything about the « backstage » of the music industry : recording, studio, manufacture, sale, promo, etc. and I was happy to live in this trade.

At the time producing good music was the main thing for independent companies and profit did not have to turn up instantly. There was hardly any marketing, radio airplays and TV shows were the main promo tools. Sales of an artist could be low or big, there was always a plan for a further album. Also, we were a small team, all of us being multi-tasks, and it was fun working together.

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7 From the long list of Motors’ artists you should keep special memories.

Tell us some of those memories and anecdotes, from your favorite musicians.

The Motors label was pretty active at the time and we signed good songwriters/artists (which you find in the CD box « L’Aventure Motors »). In the late 70’s : rock artists Louis Deprestige, a great German kid called Maxim Rad, an Algeria born French poet, whose texts were put to music by composer Jean Noël Chaleat (who co-wrote the Alain Chamfort biggest hit « Manureva ») and who recorded a great ethno-rock album under his real name Mounsi. Really good stuff … but none of these achieved recognition. I often say that we were sometimes « ahead of our time » with these artists.

Both Louis and Mounsi have remained good friends.

Many other talented artists were signed in the 80’s-90’s, some were also very funny guys with whom I spent great times laughing loud, Gérard Blanchard, David Dexter D, some were charismatic and charming like Gino Vannelli (under license in Europe) for almost 20 years ; also Nilda Fernandez who only recorded 2 singles with Dreyfus (his song « Madrid Madrid » was great), Daniel Guichard and Celtic breton artist Alan Stivell licensed for the world during a long-time (funny memories with him too).

Also, among the jazz artists whom Dreyfus signed on his Dreyfus Jazz label, I got close to Michel Petrucciani (died in 1999), Richard Galliano and Marcus Miller with whom I have regular contacts.

I have no particular anecdote which I could tell in a few words only, I just remember the good and fun times we shared.

JEAN MICHEL JARRE

It’s noted that was HELENE, FRANCIS’ wife, who convinced him to hire JEAN MICHEL JARRE to work on the company. Helene also studied at the Groupe de Recheches Musicales (GRM) and met JARRE there. What do you know about those first contacts between Dreyfus and JARRE? This was before I joined the company but I know some details. In fact Jarre was a close school friend of our International Manager who introduced him to Francis Dreyfus; Francis accepted to sign an exclusive songwriter contract + recording contract with Jarre.

8 At the time Jarre was earning his life as a songwriter (for Françoise Hardy, Gérard Lenorman, and a few others) while studying at GRM (where he met Hélène) and recording electro-acoustic music. I think that Jarre introduced Hélène to Francis Dreyfus, and, some time later, Francis Dreyfus proposed her a job as Copyright Manager when the position became vacant.

And about your first meet with JARRE, when, where…?

I can’t remember exactly ; I guess it was in early 1976. Jarre did not come to the office so often, mainly to see Francis, sign papers or discuss things ; he would just say hello to people in the office as he passed by.

It’s only when “Oxygene” was released and became an instant hit that I got to see him more often and was able to know him better. We were not even 10 people in the office, the doors were open, everybody shared the unexpectedly high and fast success of the album, we were a super happy family.

9 First he started doing small jobs for DREYFUS, composing and writing songs or making instrumental arrangements for other artists of the label. Sometimes these collaborations have led to confusion, making difficult to know exactly what was JARRE’s responsibility in these recordings. An example is THE POP CORN ORCHESTRA, but also 1906 with the single “Cartolina”. Can you clarify his authorship in those jobs?

Do you know why he used pseudonyms such as JAMMIE JEFFERSON or JO SHERMAN? Francis introduced Jarre to Christophe to write lyrics on the music he demoed for his first album (before Christophe only recorded EP’s) which was “Les Paradis Perdus”.

The collaboration continued with the second album “Les Mots Bleus”, both successful albums with hit songs, but the relation between Christophe and Jarre turned sour (egos ?).

During that time Jarre recorded some singles as you quote above ; in those years, it was cooler to have an English style artist name (Johnny Hallyday, Eddy Mitchell, Dick Rivers, etc), this why I guess he used pseudonyms.

- “1906/Cartolina” composed and recorded by Jarre, owned by Dreyfus.

- “Pop Corn Orchestra” was a cover version recording performed and produced by Jarre, owned by Dreyfus.

JARRE released “La Cage” and “Deserted Palace” –this one under Editions F. Dreyfus- and also several collaborations with some other artists not linked to FDM as GERARD LENORMAN, FRANÇOISE HARDY and of course PATRICK JUVET, with a great success. What did DREYFUS (the company or the producer) thinkabout theseparallel jobs?

“La Cage” was an earlier recording (his first), an electro-acoustic /pop stuff I think, from his pre-Dreyfus years. Jarre owns the master.

Prior to Oxygène, two albums were released under our recording contract : “Deserted Palace” + Soundtrack album “Les Granges Brûlées”.

“Deserted Palace” was recorded by Jarre on the proposal of Dreyfus. It was also used

by Sam Fox Music company, co-publisher, in its musical library. Dreyfus owns the master.

The “parallel jobs” with other songwriters and artists were allowed in his exclusive song-writer contract, they were even most welcome, especially the co-writing of and producing the best 2 albums of Patrick Juvet “Mort ou Vif” and “Paris by Night”.

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In 1976 JEAN MICHEL composed “Oxygene”. Do you remember the first time you heard “Oxygene” (or a part of it) at DISQUES DREYFUS? If yes, was it a demo version or the final mix?

Before his contract was to expire in March 1977, Jarre owed a last recording to the company. He offered Francis to listen to his new album to be called “Oxygène” ; the boss was totally convinced and excited. I think Francis and Hélène listened to a premix of the album, or maybe bits and pieces, I can’t remember well.

All I remember is that during the whole month of November 1976, Francis gathered his staff many times to sit and listen to the album SUPER LOUD in his office … the windows were shaking ! At the first hearing I chose to stay in my room and I remember not being convinced AT ALL that this album could ever have any success. I was the only one in the company feeling that way, of course. But I soon changed my mind and the more I listened to the album the more I loved it.

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Really the publication and success of this album had to be a revolution for DISQUES DREYFUS. How changed the company after the release of “Oxygene”?

Oxygène was released on 5th December 1976 and, within one month, had already sold over 100.000, something unheard of for an unknown artist playing electronic music.

Soon the album became a “phenomena” and sales exploded both in France and abroad (exports). You can imagine the excitement in the office, the frenzy of sending big orders to the pressing plant, selling, exporting, press, radio, television … a welcome success after a couple of years of bad business.

Lot’s of money, lot’s of recording projects with new artists in which benefits were invested, increase of the publishing activity with good subpublishing deals, it did change the company a lot.

Some A&R’s were hired for our other pop/rock artists, plus administrative staff too.

We all had the feeling to share a great time working together. Francis Dreyfus Music became one of the leading independent French Labels & Publishers.

These were the great early years of the Jarre-Dreyfus close collaboration ; both were inseparable, dreaming about other future and crazy projects. And there was enough success and money in the company to make them happen.

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PART II: PLACE DE LA CONCORDE

JARRE, along with his records, found success with his outdoor concerts.

In 1979 he held the first of them, in the Place de la Concorde. You were the production assistant. How born the idea for this concert? How was received by DREYFUS? I remember Jarre and Drefyus wanted to “do a big one� and imagined proposing to the Mairie de Paris for no money a super promotional light and music show on Place de la Concorde to celebrate our 14th July National Day ; the idea and hope was to gather as many people as possible on and around Place de la Concorde. The event, if successful, would be relayed on French TV channels. The City of Paris and the Ministry of Culture approved the project and contributed to the logistics and the security.

My role in the production was limited to assisting Francis Dreyfus.

13 Please, tell us your memories about that first great concert.

My general recollection was excitement of course to be part of a great and crazy show, the giant images on the buildings, laser beams and writing and this immense crowd. I had never seen anything like this at such a big scale in the open air.

THE CONCERTS IN CHINA

It‘s difficult to imagine how projecting a concert tour in China in the 80s.

I guess it’s not only a musical challenge, but also of production. Again you took care of the production of these shows. What difficulties did you encounter with these concerts in a so closed country and with a very difficult protocol?

I think that soon after the Concorde show contacts were made with some Chinese officials through Pierre Cardin and the French Ambassador of France in China.

14 With images of the Concorde show, Jarre and Dreyfus proposed to perform some indoor concert with light shows and the Chinese government finally accepted to be invite Jean Michel Jarre as the first western modern composer and artist to perform in the Republic of China ; it took some time in negociating, bargaining etc. but the mediatic aspect of the project was another great challenge to meet.

I was doing the administrative work, and mainly working with the French travel agency and the freight agent on the plane tickets and reservations + hotel accomodation + transportation of the stage, lights, sound, instruments, etc. The agency provided for a tour guide fluent in Chinese (a pure Corsican guy).

When we arrived in Beijing, we had to face the inevitable administrative and governmental obligations, last minute negociations on the electric power which was needed for the shows and which was far more than had been calculated by the Chinese who had to take the decision to close one or two nearby factories for a few days.

The day-to-day negociations were typical of the Chinese culture ; even if Jarre had been invited by the Chinese government to do the concerts and what he needed for the concerts had to be provided, the Chinese officials made it impossible not to sit a a table and negociate for anything. Just for the principle.

Did you attend the five concerts in Pekin and Shanghai? If yes, which was your favorite one and why?

The Shanghai concerts were much better, first because the 2 Beijing concerts helped the further shows to run better. The concerts in Beijing were the first total live concerts that Jarre ever performed (La Concorde was semi-live + backing tapes) so he was not so at ease as you can imagine.

Also, the audience was much much warmer in Shanghai. People in Shanghai were more open and relaxed than in Beijing, even the officials. It’s because of history, of the foreign concessions which were established in the city in the mid-19th Century which left their western culture behind them when they closed

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19 There are many unknowns about these concerts: The effect of the numerous technical difficulties, uncertainties about the tracklist of the shows, the audio and video recordings (of which are only known the record and the official video) … You were there. How were really those concerts?

Technical difficulties were mainly in Beijing, I can’t really remember any big problem in Shanghai. The tracklist of the shows was slightly different in Shanghai I think, because Jarre added some new songs in the Shanghai shows. On the other end, « Fishing Junks at Sunset » with the Chinese Philarmonic was only performed in Beijing.

The whole trip in China was filmed by English TV company Central Television (Birmingham) a division of Granada Television. The film was meant to be a musical documentary. Central TV was producing the film and had exclusive UK broadcast rights during a certain number of years + non-exclusive in other countries, while Dreyfus had the video rights worldwide.

The audio recording was Dreyfus’s responsability.

These concerts remain of of the most exciting experiences of my life.

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Were those concerts broadcasted on radio or television? There is a supposed radio emission with some live tracks. Could you confirm its authenticity?

I remember Europe N°1 radio station was also involved to a small extent : they sent a journalist to cover the adventure, so it is possible that this station broadcasted bits and pieces of the shows, but I don’t think it was a full live broadcast.

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Please, some personal memories of that Chinese tour.

I was busy with the production yet found a little time for some personal side explorations of the old parts of Beijing (now destroyed) with my new good friend, the Chinese-speaking-Corsican tour guide. He had some friends working at the French Embassy. With them we went walking through the poor and old parts of the city on the side of the Forbidden City ; one evening we entered a dark and dirty kind of bar lit with 2 tiny 40W lamps, where two locals were playing card games loudly and drinking a pretty rough spirit called Mao Taï made with sorghum. One of the French diplomat went to challenge one of them and got into this wild card-and-drinking game ; he finally turned green and almost crashed down and we had to drag him out and load him in the car back home.

Also quite drunk we were all (incl. Jarre + Dreyfus) at the 2 offical dinner-receptions organized in our honour by Chinese officials in both cities ; the reason was that we were placed in big round tables of about 10 people, each of us in the Jarre-Dreyfus group was seated between 2 Chinese guests. But, besides the fact that we could not communicate, we had to drink beer and/or wine and stand up every half an hour to drink a toast (kampé !) of this horrible mortal drink Mao Taï ! No way to decline the invitation which could be considered as a lack of respect. Imagine how we were all after this 2-3 hour dinner !!! I think I was sick the next day of the Beijing dinner ! In Shanghai, the less formal official dinner ended in a delirious and crazy night !

Another funny but short moment was at the end of one of the Shanghai concerts, a small group of us including Jarre were sitting in our van at the back of the stadium, waiting for our promo guy, Bernard, to join us to return to our hotel ; we saw him get out through the stadium door and suddenly be run after by a big group of screaming fans who believed he was Jarre (he had the same height and same long dark hair) ; Bernard had to sprint a hundred metres to escape the mob and finally jumped into the van breathless !

23 RENDEZ-VOUS HOUSTON

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You were involved in more JARRE’s concerts, in the production team, as Rendez-Vous Houston, each one more spectacular than the last. Which is your favourite one ?

My other favourite concert was Houston of course, first because it was another incredible adventure to organize such concert in the open air with all the local and last minute problems and negociations for the security with the owners of the buildings on which the giant screens for the projections/mapings were installed, with the Firemen, with the City officials, etc. It was the concert in which I was the most involved technically. I remember that on the morning of the show, we still did not have all the authorizations and were not even sure the concert could take place.

When the countdown ended and the show started we were like floating in the air with our mouth open just like the unbelievable crowd around us. It was just fantastic ! As you know the Freeway closest to the concert site got totally blocked as people stopped to see the show from far away. This unexpected reaction from the crowd and the success of the show made us so proud of ourselves. The next day, local media were raving about the show. It was great to have lived this thrilling project.

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MUSIC FOR SUPERMARKETS

The rarest JARRE’s album is “Music For Supermarkets”. Only one copy was pressed, and then auctioned. Did you live the origin of this idea?

How a record company and its production team assimilate a project so rare?

Jarre and Dreyfus were always inventing new things and events to catch the attention of the media. One day they decided to create this never-done-before event : an artist who had sold millions of albums was to compose an album and press only one copy to be sold by auction. This was a bit crazy, enough to catch the interest of the media.

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Can you confirm the master plate and all test pressing were deleted (burned, in fact)? Wasn’t kept in DREYFUS’ files a copy?

Indeed, the master matrix was destroyed (burnt with a blowlamp) in the auction room. We have kept a safety copy of the master tape which was never used after. Only the versions possibly taped by some listeners from the RTL radio station which played the whole album once, may have circulated under cover or on the internet.

The owner of that vinyl record is another great mystery for JARRE’s fans. There is no picture of him, no name. Nothing. 28 years have passed since the sale and has not leaked any information about the current owner. Did you have any contact with him or his representatives to finalize the sale of the album?

Same with us. We had the name of the person, of course, but he was totally unknown and did not want to communicate on his reasons for buying this album. It was quite strange. We never had any further contact with this person other than getting papers signed and his cheque. Still an unsolved a mystery …

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PART III: RELATIONSHIP BREAKDOWN

In 2002 DISQUES DREYFUS released “Sessions 2000”. This was the last album with new compositions published by JARRE in his long-time record company. Before that, in 2000, a great album (“Metamorphoses”) was launched an extraordinary concert took place in Egypt. It seems like everything was right. So, what really happened that broke the relationship of DREYFUS (the company and the man) and JEAN MICHEL? The album “Metamorphoses” was not successful despite millions invested in marketing and promotion ; on “Oxygene 7-13” and “Metamorphoses”, both licensed to Sony (almost) worldwide, all expensive videoclips and remixes costs were shared with Sony Music. Neither, Jarre or Dreyfus, were happy with the sales results and we had the feeling that Jarre was somehow blaming Dreyfus for that situation.

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Although Jarre was still our main artist, Francis Dreyfus had launched his Dreyfus Jazz label in 1993 (the dream of his life, Francis’s favourite music had always been jazz). This began to take more of Francis’s time (sign artists, record them, spend time with them, etc). The Jazz signings included famous and talented artists such as Michel Petrucciani, Richard Galliano, Marcus Miller, and many others.

Francis did not attend the concert in Cairo for family reasons. I understand Jarre felt quite offended and their relations got a bit tense.

During year 2001, Jarre and Dreyfus had several meetings to discuss the future. He Jarre proposed to Dreyfus to terminate the contract immediately, although we had two more albums to release. It was impossible for us to accept this proposed termination without any indemnity.

A few days before Christmas, a messenger delivered to our receptionist a bag containing two CD masters + album cover artworks, one was entitled “Sessions 2000” and the other one “Experimental 2001”.

We understood they were presented as the last 2 albums due per contract. We listened to both tapes and did not think much of the music; it did not sound very original or innovative, like dispersed music presented in two albums. Although we were obliged to release both albums, we had to remind the artist that it was impossible to release them at the same time as usually each release takes place with a gap of 18 months minimum. In addition, Sony Music did not pick their option on the two optional albums they had in their contract.

This was when our direct relations ended. It was early 2002.

We then negociated through our respective lawyers a compromise: we would release one album only “Sessions 2000”, and let the artist free of contract after it was released.

Sessions 2000 was released in October 2002. The sales were small (62.000 to this day) because we did not have SONY to release outside France and we had to export the CDs to our European Jazz distributors without any promotion supported by the artist.

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In 2003 Disques Dreyfus reedited the soundtrack “Les Granges Brûlées”, originaly released in 1973. Also a compilation entitled “The Essential”.

Why? Record sales were dropping and we had to make new releases to compensate the loss of the artist. So, we decided to re-release Les Granges Brûlées in March 2003 (master from Jarre’s previous artist contract). We sold about 10.000. Then we decided to release another Best-Of, “The Essential”, in 2004. We sold about 60.000 CDs. More events occurred in these years which indicated that the relationship between the musician and the record company was pretty bad. In 2004thousands of videos with contents related to JARRE were deleted from Youtube by the Web Sheriff. Was it a warrant by DREYFUS? This was in 2008 after the EMI release of “Oxygene New Master Recording”. The Web Sheriff had to clean the internet with anything related to the Oxygene master (the original 1976 and the 2007 version). Some time later, when we received some messages from unhappy internauts, we cancelled the deletion when applicable asking that they remove only the Oxygene video from their Youtube page.

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In 2007, JARRE published a supposed “new master recording” of the biggest seller “Oxygene”, this time released by Emi. A few months ago a Brittish newspapper included as a gift this album, and about 2 millions of units were freely distributed. This is a case that ended up in courts, because supposedlythe album contained parts of the original work, of course copyrighted by DREYFUS. Please, tell us about this issue, how it started and how it ended?

In November 2007 Jarre released through EMI Records a so-called “re-recorded version of the original 1976 Oxygene album with the original instruments”. Also, the cover was almost the same with some changes.

When we listened to the new album it was obvious that it was almost identical to the 1976 original analog tape.

We had to protect our rights and stop the distribution of this questionable album; so we sent Cease and Desist letters to EMI and all parties involved in its exploitation, including the Sunday Mail issue in early 2008 which was too late for us to stop unfortunately.

At the beginning of 2010, Jarre called Dreyfus on the phone and proposed to meet and discuss things in the most amicable way.

He persuaded Francis to end war for the better of both. Along the last years Francis’ health had deteriorated (I myself discovered only one and a half month before he died that Francis had a lung cancer), so Francis accepted to return to the table of negociations.

Francis, myself and his lawyer negociated with Jarre’s lawyer during the last months of Francis’s life. When he died, the settlement papers were almost complete and was were signed between Jarre and Hélène Dreyfus.

The settlement consisted of more precise conditions of the co-owned audio and audiovisual masters. As far as Jarre’s 100% owned masters were concerned we were to stop selling the albums at the end of 2010.

Last, it was agreed that Dreyfus would release a new Best Of album in collaboration with Jarre (co-production, Jarre to propose tracklist and artwork, and Dreyfus to market and exploit worldwide). This Project became Essentials & Rarities released in April 2011.

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CONCERTS’ DVDs There were intends to reissue the old VHS videos in DVD format. Also the “Rendez-Vous Houston” film was announced to be released in DVD, in fact it was made. But again the released was cancelled. Was the same problem that “The China Concerts” DVD? What happened with the DVD copies?

We had considered planning a DVD release of the VHS concert programs for years.

We also listened to fans who were constantly asking on the internet why we did not release DVDs of the Jarre concerts (some of them were even accusing us of retaining the commercial release of Jarre’s DVDs). We therefore decided to go ahead with a DVD release of the Houston concert, with a short bonus. We planned for a release in October 2008.

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We used the original 1”C Pal master which had been used for broadcast and VHS manufacture. Two days before the street release we were forced to retrieve all copies ready for sending to our foreign distributors and French retailers. We had pressed 12,000 copies. We had to destroy them all.

In fact ”The China Concerts” came to appear spontaneously in the Australian market for a few days, but this marketing operation was canceled. What exactly happened?

As a coincidence we discovered a couple of months later that The China Concerts 1981 DVD had been released in Australia at the end of December 2008 by Shock Records without any license from Dreyfus. We had to stop this release immediately ; at the same time, it was clearly a proof of the increasing demand of Jarre’s fans to the release of the 4 concerts in DVD format and the need to release them officially before possible other illegal exploitations by third parties.

After cease and desist letters and my investigation, we discovered that UK TV company ITC (new owner of Granada TV) had licensed the programme to Readers Digest Australia which in turn licensed the exploitation rights to Shock Records.

ITV did not have the Dreyfus-Granada co-production contract in their files and believed they had TV and video rights. In fact Dreyfus had the worldwide video (including DVD) rights, not ITC. We finally settled amicably after the remaining stock at Shock had been destroyed.

Your name appeared several times in JEAN MICHEL’s album credits, also in the thanks section. How changed your friendship with him when he left the record company? What is your actual relation with JARRE?

I have respect for him because he made good music; we both earned a lot of money with his albums and lived great moments. When he left in 2002, it was very hard for us, like a divorce. So, during a few years, my feelings towards him were not so good (of course, I was on my boss’s side). But he made peace with Francis and I thank him for that, at least.

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EXPERIMENTAL 2001

37 Was composed completely by JARRE himself or was co-composed with FRANCIS RIMBERT? (this is a gossip that runs in some forums).

Good point! You may be right, although I can’t find any answer in my files (we never published the songs, I have no info on them). Maybe Rimbert’s collaboration was limited to the arrangements of each composition (as for Sessions 2000). I cannot find any co-composed Jarre-Rimbert song in the SACEM database, so obviously they were not worth registering.

We may think this recording stills owned by DISQUES DREYFUS, so it’s in its files, now property of BMG Rights. Do you think this record label will publish it? Could it do it freely or BMG might get JEAN-MICHEL’s athorization?

As said above, the rights to this master recording have reverted to Jarre. DreyfusBMG Rights have no rights to it.

Did you hear it? If yes, what kind of music or with which JARRE’s record could be compared?

I will disappoint you, because I hardly heard it, just bits and pieces and only once.

There was only one CD master copy which Francis kept at home during the whole Christmas holiday ; I was not interested to hear more.

ESSENTIALS & RARITIES

In 2011 everyone was surprised when DISQUES DREYFUS announced the release of a new collaboration with JARRE, the great compilation “Essentials & Rarities”. How started this project? Who did the first step?

This project of a new Best Of was defined in the 2010 settlement. It took some time to develop it in close collaboration with Jarre who had the idea of the 2 compilations“Essentials” and “Rarities”, the latter was to include old and rare recordings. Jarre chose the tracklist and the initial artwork.

38 It showed Jarre leaning against an electric green wall with an electric pink door. Jarre was wearing tartan trousers in the same kind of electric colours.

What was the level of involvement of DREYFUS and JARRE on this record? (Production, tracklist, promotion…).

As for all co-produced albums (for example, the Live albums) all expenses and receipts were split 50/50. Jarre proposed the tracklist, took care of the artwork and the mastering; he chose the PR and marketing plans were co-approved.

Let me tell you that the presentation, box format and discs details are great. Really deluxe, the kind of presentation that fans always wanted in JARRE’s special releases.

It is understood that there were very good intentions put into this release. May we think this collaboration with JARRE was raised to continue in the future?

No way with Dreyfus especially since Francis Dreyfus died in 2010 which stopped any future projects. But Jarre is probably negociating with BMG or other majors on his back-catalogue masters and possibly new recordings.

DREYFUS BOUGHT BY BMG

For all JARRE’s fans, and for lovers of music in general, the announce of the purchase of DISQUES DREYFUS by BMG Group was a hard impact.

DREYFUS label means the success of a romantic project that grew to become a global reference thanks to the richness of its catalog and its great work in the world of jazz. When did you know the intention of selling DISQUES DREYFUS? What was the reason for the sale?

When Francis died his wife, Hélène, was named new President and she decided to keep the company running for a little while. Early 2011, the shareholders decided to sell the company in order to pay the inheritance taxes (very high in France). We almost made a deal with Universal by the end of 2011 but they had to withdraw their offer because of the Virgin-Capitol-Emi purchase. The second best offer was that of BMG Rights. The sale was finally concluded on May 25, 2012.

Did FRANCIS DREYFUS ever intend to sell the record label?

Maybe 4 or 5 years before he died, Francis had mentioned several times that in the future he might decide to sell the label and keep the publishing. But in fact it was always postponed to later days.

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This work it’s dedicates to the memory of her mother, who passed away during the making of this interview.

Thanks very much again to DaniĂŠle for her involvement in this interview that lasted three months of work. She is answering more questions on the coments below the spanish version of the interview.

Click here to make some questions to her.

Many thanks to Fairlight Jarre - en.jeanmicheljarre.es for sharing this interview.

Fairlight Jarre is a website made by the Spanish Jean Michel Jarre Fanclub, which started in 1995 as Fanzine and continued later as a website.

All photos taken from Fairlight Jarre.