André Ceccarelli


André "Dédé" Ceccarelli is a French jazz drummer.

Biography

After learning to play the drums from his father, Ceccarelli started out playing in the salons of the Hotel Royal Nice Promenade des Anglais at the age of fifteen, where he played with some musicians at tea dances on weekends. He was spotted by a lady who was the wife of John Tosan, and was presented to the brothers John Rob alias Jean-Claude and James Fawler alias Gerard Roboly, and on their request participated on rehearsals with the French band rock Les Chats Sauvages, who was looking for a new drummer, and was hired at age 16 in May 1962, which corresponds to the beginning of his long career.
After almost two years, several tours and many recordings with this band, he left in January 1964 to resume the position of drummer in the band the Casino Sporting Club Monaco, and playing with many entertainers in the studio and on tour, including Claude François, he turned to jazz. He had always wanted to be able to play with the jazz greats of the time, and could do so when becoming an active studio musician.
From the late 1960s, he collaborated with arranger and trumpeter Ivan Jullien, with whom he recorded the album including 'Synthesis'. It also participates in the short-lived group Troc with Jannick Top and Alex Ligertwood and signs two fusion style albums, one on the label Bingow, recorded between 1972 and 1973, the other for the Carla label in 1977. In 1974, he played in the orchestra of Jean-Claude Naude and participated in the album A New Kind of Band.
In 1979, he began a career in the United States alongside Bunny Brunel and Chick Corea, and met Dee Dee Bridgewater in 1987, with whom he continued a long-lasting collaboration. He founded the 'Trio Sud' with Sylvain Luc and Jean-Marc Jafet in 2000.
He has been recorded as a leader since 1976, and released the album Avenue Des Diables Blues within his own trio.
Ceccarelli is the sponsor of the festival Jazz at Any Time that started in 1998 in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse and the Nice Jazz Festival in 2013.
He has worked with Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sting, Enrico Rava, Kenny Wheeler, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Jean-Luc Ponty, Stéphane Grappelli, Didier Lockwood, Chick Corea, Joey DeFrancesco, John McLaughlin, Biréli Lagrène, Christian Escoudé, Philippe Catherine, Nguyên Lê and Sylvain Luc.

Awards and honours

  • 1998: Great Jazz Award, Sacem, lifetime achievement

    Discography

As leader

  • Ceccarelli/Chantereau/Padovan/Pezin: CCPP
  • Rythmes
  • Ceccarelli
  • Andre Ceccarelli
  • Project One
  • Made in Sax
  • Rock
  • Africa
  • Masters with Rene Urtreger
  • New Music
  • Rock for Everytime
  • Dansez Sur Moi
  • Hat Snatcher
  • 3 Around the 4
  • From the Heart
  • West Side Story
  • 61:32
  • Carte Blanche
  • Avenue Des Diables Blues
  • Golden Land
  • Sweet People
  • Le Coq et La Pendule: Hommage a Claude Nougaro
  • Ultimo
  • Twelve Years Ago
  • Inedits et Incontournables
  • Twenty 20
With Troc
  • Troc
  • Troc 2011
  • ''Crosstalk''

    As sideman

With Dee Dee Bridgewater
  • Live in Paris
  • Heartache Caravan
  • In Montreux
  • Keeping Tradition
  • Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver
  • Dear Ella
  • This Is New
  • Sings Kurt Weill Live at North Sea Jazz
With Sacha Distel
With Ivan Jullien
  • Porgy and Bess
  • Secret Service
  • L'Orchestre
  • Studio Davout
  • Live At Nancy Jazz Pulsations
With Bireli Lagrene
  • Standards
  • Live in Marciac
  • Blue Eyes
  • Just the Way You Are
With Francis Lai
  • Baby Sitter
  • Salaud, On T'Aime
  • Un + Une
With Didier Lockwood
  • 1.2.3.4
  • For Stephane
  • Open Doors
With Eddy Mitchell
With Janko Nilovic
  • Giant
  • Un Homme Dans L'Univers
  • Jazz Impressions 1
  • Jazz Impressions 2
With Enrico Pieranunzi
  • Seaward
  • Live in Paris
  • Tales from the Unexpected
  • Menage a Trois
  • European Trio
  • Monsieur Claude
With Henri Salvador
  • Henri
  • En Public
  • Des Gouts et Des Couleurs
With Yves Simon
  • Vol. 1 Au Pays Des Merveilles de Juliet
  • Respirer, Chanter
  • Un Autre Desir
  • Intempestives
With others