It was back in March 2008 that 'Alain Caruba' registered on The Riviera Woman. It has taken me well over a year to see him play his drums in his Jazz Band 'The Caruba Jazz Trio' on 21st June, for La Fête dela Musique. It was a pleasure to hear his music and finally to get to talk to him...

ANNA: You play the drums so brilliantly, is there any other instrument you play?

ALAIN: “I play piano, bass and percussions, I am a composer and an arranger. I did a musical (songs and arrangements) for a school in Nice, the show will be on Saturday 27th at the Conservatory of Nice. At 3 PM. I am used to write music and arrangements for schools in France and in the US”.

ANNA: How long have you played the drums?

ALAIN: “I am 56 years old, I play drums for more 40 years. When I was a teenager I was drumming on stools, so my parents helped me to find a drums teacher in Nice. 3 and a half years latter, he died in a car accident and I received a phone call from his band leader, and I took his place in the band, I was one of the youngest drummer in France.”

ANNA: Where did you train/learn?

ALAIN: “I was learning classical percussion in Nice Conservatory, than after I went to Paris Conservatory in percussion. I learned harmony, composition, and direction d’orchestre as well, and I joined the drums school Dante Agostini and Kenny Clarke in Paris during 2 years, and I gived up with classical music because I was attracted by Jazz”

ANNA: Have you always had your own band and how many in the group do you normally have?

ALAIN: “I had a band twenty years ago, and now my band is this one, it is a trio, sometimes if people wants I have a female or male vocalist, there are very good musicians and we have always good time playing together. But after my studies in Paris, I had the chance to play for the French TV in a big band, performing with a bunch of French and international artists, I performed also with Petula Clack when she was famous in France, in 1976”

ANNA: Is Jazz music your speciality?

ALAIN: “I love Jazz, it is my roots, my emotion, my religion. But I had fun to performed in the US with famous people like the comedian and vocalist Shirley MacLaine who sings American variety. I was also performing with big bands on American cruises ships during 5 years, I had fun to play every nights the shows. I was also performing in the Sporting de Monaco Big Band, in the Loews Hotel Les Folies Russes Big Band in Monaco, and in the Casino Rhul Big Band in Nice. 3 years ago I wanted to do the audition to try to perform with Le Cirque du Soleil but I rather came back to France to help my parents getting old and sick.

ANNA: Who was or is your inspiration for your music?

ALAIN: “My inspiration for my music is my emotion”

ANNA: What is your favourite kind of venue?

ALAIN: “I love to play everywhere, jazz clubs, bar mitzvahs, weddings, hotels, festivals, even with friends in a basement, the only thing I want is to play with good musicians”

ANNA: You live in St Martin Vesubie, is it easy for your to rehearse the drums, are your neighbours happy?

ALAIN: "Where I live the neighbors are far away, there are only farms, cows, chickens, Sometimes I practice very early in the morning but I have a music studio.”

ANNA: What are your plans for the Summer and the rest of 2009?

ALAIN: "I have some gigs, I have two masters classes to do. I am a drums teacher and teacher at the working-class orchestra at the Conservatoire du Sivom in Villefranche sur mer and Beaulieu sur mer. I wait for my daughter Emily and Benjamin to come visit me, I love them. They live in Manhattan and there are in the university. I was living in the
New-Jersey, then I moved to Orange County next to Los Angeles. I’m divorced from an American woman.”

ANNA: If you could play anywhere in the world, where would it be?

ALAIN: “I love to play for American people, they love Jazz, they love entertainers. I performed a lot in the US. The best audience is the American people. I was born and raised in Nice, France, when I moved to the US, I became American citizen, I have a dual nationality but I still speak English with a French accent, sorry...”

There was certainly no need for any 'sorries', I found the accent most charming, just like the man himself.

See Alain on the drums on the events article 'Pure Sound of Music'

People and Places