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Stéfan was raised in Nogent-le-Rotrou, France, where Rhoda Scott has lived for many years. Born in 1962, he started learning piano at a young age. At 13, he won a record player and went to the town's flea market to buy his first record, spending 15 Francs on a Rhoda Scott LP because he liked the cover. He started collecting her records, and was so enamoured with her music that he tried to contact her. To his great surprise, he found out she lived not far from his home. Knowing she had to shop in town, he would look out for her at the market and eventually saw her get into a red car. He looked for that car while riding his bike, and when he finally found her house, she invited him in. They spent the afternoon together, and have been friends ever since.
Rhoda inspired Stéfan to become an organist. He started studying organ in Chartres at the Claudine Aucher school. While this story so far could easily be a movie, this next event in his life would make a classic scene. Stéfan decided to attend the music conservatory in Paris' 13th disctrict. Since the Church organ program required 10 years, he approached the professor to see if he could get in regardless. He went to the class room which had huge wooden doors he desperatly tried to open quietly, but they squeaked so loud that everyone turned around.
The professor, Michel Jollivet, took a liking to him and exceptionally gave him 3 years of technical instruction. At the same time, Stéfan studied singing and spent his nights in the local Jazz clubs. Rhoda invited him to tour with her, and he became her road manager for 6 years, learning the business first hand. Not only did he see one of the best Jazz organists play nightly, she would also let him play at the end of her concerts. Like Scott, Patry plays full bass lines on MIDI'd pedals with a lot of feeling and maturity.
Patry played his first solo gig at the Petit Journal Montparnasse in 1984. After meeting Philippe Combelle and Sean Gourley, they started the "Jazz Tap Family" with Combelle's daughter Sandra tapping. It was Gourley's creative guitar playing and Combelle's hard driving groove that Stéfan had been looking for, and as the trio "Big Blue Lemon" they recorded a CD which is no longer available. The trio just released their second CD BAM BAM BAM featured on this page.
With the help of Rhoda Scott, the editor of the French Keyboards magazine, and many Hammond organ fans, Stéfan created the Tribute To Hammond organisation. TTH held their first annual organ concert "La Ruée Vers L'Orgue" (a French play on words on "The Gold Rush") in March 1996. This festival ran 3 days and included "Master Classes" with Scott and Lou Bennett.
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Black & Blue: BB 898.2 ND 216 Recorded April 8 & 9, 1996 in France.
Stéfan Patry: organ, vocal
The CD is distributed internationally by Night & Day (Black & Blue label) and is available for 115 French Francs plus shipping directly from Stéfan Patry, who is the president of the Tribute To Hammond organization in Paris:
19, rue des Gobelins 75013 Paris FRANCE Tel/Fax: 01-43-36-64-94
Photos by Stéphane Ouzounoff. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Web pages created by Gilles Bacon © 1997.