Born in the Vosges region of France in 1956, a self-taught guitarist and admirer of Leonard Cohen, Philip Glass and Manos Hadjidakis, among others, his meeting with choreographer Carolyn Carlson in 1978 was to prove decisive for his artistic future. He fell in love with the dance and the dancer, became her regular musician and, inspired by her, composed his first ballet scores.
This collaboration, which has lasted ever since, has given rise to a number of shows, including Blue Lady (1983), Steppe (1990) and Signes (1997), which won a Victoire de la Musique in 1998. It was in Venice, where he lived from 1981 to 1984, that he recorded his first album.
A further 20 albums followed between 1988 and 2013. The great choreographer Pina Bausch was delighted to use it to accompany three of her shows: Ten Chi (2004), Vollmond (2006) and Sweet Mambo (2008), as was Wim Wenders for his film Pina.
Since 1999, he has pursued a parallel career as a concert artist, performing with his Septet all over Europe with a mainly acoustic repertoire.
2013 saw the release of his latest album, Forget me not, the soundtrack to Philippe Genty's new show.