Pierre Durand, guitarist- Le Questionnaire de Proust

Pierre Durand, guitarist, agreed to continue this series of the famous Proust Questionnaires, slightly revisited in the Couleurs Jazz spirit…

A unique way to take the first steps into the world of these remarkable jazz musicians—artists of our time.

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–For you, what is the height of musical misery?

First degree: exploitation. Being paid so poorly that you cannot make a living from your art.
Second degree: indifference.

-Where would you like most to live?

Here and now.

–Your ideal of happiness on earth?

Love, friends, books, good food, good alcohol, music, a fireplace crackling in the background, the occasional little joint. And perhaps a mutt too, if I end up living in the Cévennes.

-For which wrong notes do you have the most indulgence?

Almost all of them. The pursuit of perfection as performance bores me and leaves me indifferent. That’s probably why I didn’t like jazz for a long time.

A note is considered wrong because we fail to hear the harmonic context, the scale in which it belongs. Playing a C-sharp over a conventional Cmaj7 chord is only “wrong” if you cannot hear the colour that accommodates both that C-sharp and the C chord.

After that, a “wrong” note can become awkward if it is not owned, if it comes from a lack of commitment, or if the rigidity of the people you are playing with turns it into a mistake.

I have found musical ideas for improvising and composing through errors.

–Who are the fictional heroes you prefer?

Those who surprise me when the novel or the play is well written, or well translated. Generally speaking, a well-crafted character: subtle, nuanced, and far from one-dimensional.

–Who is your favorite classical musician?

I’m quite ignorant when it comes to classical music. From the little I do know, Bach. But probably the one I haven’t discovered yet.

–Your favorite heroines or divas in real life?

Heroines: far too many to name only a few.
Especially those no one talks about, the anonymous ones, the forgotten ones.

Divas: they don’t exactly make me dream

–Your heroines in fiction ?

DCI Jane Tennison, Prime Suspect, First season (1991).

Your favorite painter ?

Same here, I’m too ignorant.
From the little I know: a Venetian painting by James Ensor, and the different periods of Mark Rothko.

-Your favorite Jazz musician?

Impossible. There are far too many of them. Too many artists have filled a blank page in the history of this music, and indeed in the history of music as a whole.

-Your favorite quality in a man?

kindness.

-Your favorite quality in a woman?

Independance.

-Your favorite virtue?

I don’t separate them from quality. And all of them matter.

–Your favorite occupation?

To live fully, to enjoy it. And, more concretely: to play concerts, to work on music, to listen to it, to read.

–Who would you have liked to be?

No one. Being myself is enough.

-Le principal trait de votre caractère ?

Ça dépend des jours.

–Ce que vous appréciez le plus chez mes amis ?

Ça dépend des jours.

-Your main character trait?

It depends on the day.

— Your idea of happiness?

Realizing every day that it is often right in front of us.

— Your greatest misfortune?

Rather, my greatest misfortune if I fall into it: nostalgia.

— What would you like to be?

Who I will be tomorrow.

— Your favourite colour?

I don’t know. I feel like it’s more about habits than taste, and it changes from day to day.

— Your favourite flower?

It depends on the season, and I don’t know them well enough.

— Your favourite bird?

All of them, except pigeons in Paris. “Bloated, disgusting and foolish,” as Gérard de Nerval put it. But it feels like there are fewer and fewer of them.

— Your favourite prose authors?

Far too many. Mohammed Choukri, J.-M. G. Le Clézio, Driss Chraïbi, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, James Lee Burke, the Céline of Voyage au bout de la nuit, Voyage au bout de la nuit, José Mauro de Vasconcelos, for example.

And above all, those I have yet to discover.

— Your favourite poets?

I don’t read enough poetry. As with classical music, I’m rather ignorant in this field. From what I do know: James Baldwin, Blaise Cendrars.

— Your heroes in real life?

Denzel Washington, Yaron Gottfried.

— Your heroes in history?

Like the heroines. And in any case, without the illusion that great people always behave well, or that the opposite is necessarily true. That’s also why I don’t separate the artist from the person. We’re not in a Disney cartoon; we’re complex. And even if it’s reassuring to see life as computer code made of 1s and 0s, I prefer the ½s, ¾s, 9/10ths.

— Your heroes in real life?

With a capital H: those who risk their lives.

— Your favourite names?

I don’t know.

— What do you hate above all?

I try not to judge, but I still have the weakness of losing patience with motivations driven by opportunism.

— The reform you admire most?

In France: the abolition of the death penalty.

— The gift of nature you would like to have?

Being good at solfège as well as sports, in short, being less lazy!

— How would you like to die?

In a dignified state. Ideally, in my sleep.