PJ:You have had a long association with France. How long have you lived there now?

CC: I have lived here for sixteen years all together: 1990-97, 2000-2009.

PJ: What drew you to the place in the first instance?

CC: My mother taught French, and I studied French at school and later at university and became a bit of a Francophile after reading Camus and Sartre at school and discovering French cinema. Watching films by Renoir, Truffaut, Godard and Melville stirred up my romantic fantasies about the place and its people. I started imagining playing piano on “the Left Bank” from about fifteen, being a bit of a dreamer! I even pretentiously called one of my first jazz compositions “la Rive Gauche”. I also liked the classical piano pieces I studied by French composers such as Debussy, Ravel and Messiaen. They struck a resonance in me with their blend of dissonant modern harmonic vocabulary and lyricism. After travelling a bit around Europe for two months at the end of my first year at university, I realised I wanted to come back and live in France one day and give it a go. I finished my degree at Sydney University in music and French, then did the jazz course at the Con and as I was already playing gigs around town I was getting restless to move on. I only knew one musician in Paris, Australian trumpeter David Lewis (Manu Dibango, Paris Combo etc) who had sat in on a Mike Nock class at the Con. He offered to help if I came over so off I went on a one way ticket via stays in New York (several months) and London.

Are you based in Paris?

Yes, I live in the centre of town.

What is the Parisian jazz scene like? How does it compare to other European capitals?

In Paris there are more musicians and venues there anywhere else I know, of a wider variety of styles and equally wider variety of skill levels and musicianship, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
You find it all here: Dixieland, swing, bebop, free, fusion, world, contemporary, through-composed, etc. There are at least six permanent full-time jazz venues, and about a dozen more part-time jazz venues, not to mention all the little bars and restaurants that have some jazz. France has over four hundred jazz festivals now and even more salles de concerts, cultural centres and associations programming jazz! London has fewer clubs spread over bigger distances and the money is poor. The musicians all struggle and as in Australia, the general population is not very interested in jazz. Rome only has two clubs and all the good musicians live here in Paris. In Germany, musicians work all over the country, money is good, but not one town has a concentrated scene – Berlin has only two or three clubs, and the weather is even worse than here. Stockholm, Amsterdam, Oslo, Vienna and the rest are lovely towns with dynamic scenes and good musicians but are really very small and a bit on the sideline. I think France and Germany have the most playing possibilities with better pay and a busy international touring circuit. All the New York musicians try to tour over here.

Have you had much interaction with African musicians who are also Paris based?

I have done concerts and sessions with a few, but more often with those interested in jazz, improvisation and related cross-over styles like Ray Doumbé (with Miriam Makeba), or Brice Wassy. Manu Dibango, Salif Keita, Papa Wembé and all the others tend to do their thing which is African/Western pop fusion, often arranged and produced by keyboard programmers – it’s not really my bag, as much as I like some of their music. I think I prefer African music in its many different styles and types played on traditional instruments and you can hear great music like this played in African restaurants, bars and even the metro here.

Are there many performance opportunities for you?

I perform regularly, as both leader of my band, and sideman for other bands, here in France and around Europe. I’ve just done gigs at the main jazz club here in Paris (le Sunside), in Stockholm, and I have work coming up in the south of France and Germany.

Can you describe your current activities?

I’m doing concerts with my band Chris Cody Coalition, working with trumpeter Georges Beckerich and his band KGB, American singer Frederic Tuxx, playing in a trio with Vic Pitts and Wayne Dockery (Archie Shepp’s bassist), doing the master class for a singer called Michele Troise, playing with Swedish trombonist Karin Hammar, improvising with writer Pierre Zamengo who reads his texts, and I teach one day a week.

Congratulations on Conscript, which is a terrific album. The material and playing are wonderful but the sound is also very present. Are you happy with the way it turned out?

Thank you! I am very happy with it. We did it very quickly: two short rehearsals, and two days in a fine studio near Paris. The sound engineer is one of Europe’s finest, and I also worked with him on my last album. He works very quickly! We went for a modern, bright, “in your face” kind of sound but without sacrificing the clarity and dynamic range. The piano was a Fazioli which was unusual for me requiring an adjustment in my approach, but a piano I want to play on more often! I wrote all the compositions and I wanted to do a more direct set than the previous album which was perhaps more conceptual.

The trombonist Glenn Ferris is a wonderful player. What do you like about his approach?

He is an excellent reader, has great technique and tone, but most importantly plays very intuitively, very melodically, as though he was singing his way through the changes, which on a couple of the tunes is no mean feat. He always makes it sound simple and natural, and can do so because of his incredible technique, time and musicianship. He doesn’t attempt to play fast bebop lines but he is always strong and memorable. It’s not surprising that he has worked with everyone from Stevie Wonder and Frank Zappa to Scofield and the Breckers.

What are the best things about living and working in France, and Europe more broadly?

I love France for its incredibly rich artistic culture and history, its wine, cuisine, and cheese, its superb countryside and villages, the jazz festivals, and the general awareness and appreciation of jazz and all things creative.
An example: Every year I play at a festival in Lautrec, a small mediaeval village surrounded by sunflower fields. The locals feed up the musicians on duck and wine, put us up, come to the concert, and buy the CDs. The farmers, rough country types who play rugby and drink hard are also modern jazz fans – for them there is no contradiction. There are thousands of villages like this!

In Europe I love the diversity of peoples, cultures and languages. In one hour on a low cost flight you can be somewhere new and exotic discovering another country, its language, culture, art, villages, cuisine and people, and better still, playing your music to them and feeling appreciated!

What are the challenges?

– The Parisians, the bureaucracy, the weight of tradition and fear of progress and new ideas, the conservative slow way of doing business, the weather (grey and wet most of the year), the pollution, and the lack of space.

Much is made of the fact that a European base offers gig possibilities in a number of neighbouring countries. Have you found that to be the case?

Yes, but it still takes work, contacting clubs, festivals, organizing the logistics. I’ve played jazz in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Morocco… all easier to organize and get to from France than Australia!

What advice can you give to Australian musicians who might be thinking of basing themselves in Europe?

Try and get your papers/visas sorted first. I came as a tourist and struggled at first but now I have my papers its much easier. There is a two year work visa for all Australians under 30 that didn’t exist when I came here. It didn’t stop me though from coming and working even if I was illegal at first!
Secondly, pick somewhere you already know or really like, learn the language, and have a couple of contacts. You have to adjust to the place, be humble and really want to live there in order to succeed. I see musicians who arrive and expect to be welcomed arms open by the locals and don’t understand why they are spurned and that their amazing playing doesn’t open doors immediately. Its takes at least a couple of years and much perseverance to get established, no matter how good you are.

Which of the European players you have heard recently should we look out for?

– French saxophonist Stéphane Guillaume, guitarist Sylvain Luc, and Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick.

You return to Australia from time to time. What are your thoughts about the Australian scene, perhaps in comparison to Europe?

Australia’s best jazz musicians are as good as anywhere else. There are a few good clubs and good organisations putting on concerts, and a few good festivals. There are some wonderful performers and composers who deserve more attention. It’s scandalous that they are largely ignored and a great shame that there aren’t more serious playing and recording opportunities: more clubs, festivals, labels, jazz programs on radio and TV, with accompanying media coverage and reviews. The music and musicians are there but further public interest will only be created if the Australian government, state governments, regions, councils and municipalities start funding a minimum correct amount as they do in Europe, and the media gives more attention. It’s an absolute joke the pitiful amount the Australia Council provides and bears no comparison whatsoever to funding in France. Australia is a wealthy country, the money is there, but the politicians and media barons have no vision for making Australia intellectually or culturally stronger. I really do wonder where the money goes.

The politicians and media owners/programmers are responsible for culturally dumbing down the Australian public. The media doesn’t give anywhere enough attention to the arts. Yet concert attendance proves the public is interested.

There can be at times in Australia a prevailing air of self-satisfied complacency and indifference, perhaps linked to the weather and outdoors lifestyle. Sport draws too much attention. Also Australia is a victim of its isolation – but all the more reason to have a vibrant domestic scene like Iceland or Finland!

Musicians and all artists should be actively encouraged to perform and create, and be given the opportunities. They should be allowed to get unemployment benefits for all the days when they don’t work, given fairer tax breaks, and most importantly have access to funded venues, record labels and radio stations, and more grants and subventions as in most European countries.

The NSW government should also remove pokies from pubs and loosen licensing laws and live entertainment restrictions, organise street festivals and fairs with live music, and provide more scholarships and awards. Villages, towns, councils, even beaches should all have their own festival – Wangaratta and Manly have proven how it is commercially worthwhile as well!

INTERVIEW IN FRENCH WITH ALAIN GONZALES for Festival Albi Jazz Balade 2002: