Didier Lockwood
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Didier Lockwood (born February 11, 1956) is a French jazz violinist.
He was born in Calais and studied classical violin and composition at the Calais Conservatory. However, he became enamored of rock and roll and quit his studies in 1972 to form a progressive rock group called Magma with his brother Francis, pianist. They played together for three years, but Didier was soon entranced by the improvisation of Jean-Luc Ponty on Frank Zappa's King Kong album. Lockwood was also influenced by Polish violinist Zbigniew Seifert and, of course, Stéphane Grappelli, whom he joined on tour.
He has also played with Quebecois fusion group Uzeb on their Absolutely Live album.
He is famous for exploring new musical environments and for performing various sound imitations on his amplified violin, such as seagulls or trains.
On July 23, 1982, in Montreaux, Switzerland, he perfomed in concert with guitarist Allan Holdsworth, drummer Billy Cobham, bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, and keyboardist David Sancious.
Didier Lockwood created a string instruments improvisation school, CMDL (Centre des Musiques Didier Lockwood), in 2001.
He is married to singer Caroline Casadesus
Throughout 2006 Didier has been touring with Martin Taylor the Jazz guitarist. In these performances it is noticeable to see that he is very involved in improvisation.
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