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| Manu Katché | |
|---|---|
| Name | Manu Katché |
| Caption | Manu Katché in 2013 |
| Background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth name | Emmanuel Katché |
| Birth date | 27 October 1958 |
| Birth place | Saint-Mandé, France |
| Genres | Rock, Pop, Jazz, World music, Fusion |
| Occupations | Drummer, Composer, Songwriter, Producer, Television Presenter |
| Instruments | Drums, Percussion |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Labels | ECM, Island, Blue Note, EMI, Arista |
| Associated acts | Peter Gabriel, Sting, Joni Mitchell, Jan Garbarek, David Gilmour, Dire Straits |
Manu Katché Emmanuel "Manu" Katché is a French drummer, composer, and producer known for his work across rock, pop, jazz, and world music. He is notable for extensive session work with high-profile artists and for a later-career shift to modern jazz albums on ECM Records and hosting music programs on France Télévisions.
Born in Saint-Mandé near Paris, Katché is of Ivorian and French descent and grew up in a multicultural environment in Val-de-Marne. He was influenced by the popular music of 1960s and 1970s France and international scenes including African music, Caribbean music, and Anglo-American pop and rock. Early musical exposure included listening to recordings by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, and percussion traditions from Ivory Coast. He trained informally before entering the professional music scene in the late 1970s alongside contemporaries from the French rock and pop circuits.
Katché began as a session drummer in the 1980s, touring and recording with major artists in Europe and North America. He contributed to landmark projects by Peter Gabriel, including work tied to So (Peter Gabriel album), and performed on albums by Sting, Dire Straits, and Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios artists. In the 1990s he played on prominent records for Gabrielle, Seal, Joan Armatrading, Fish (singer), Tricky, and Jeff Beck. Transitioning in the 2000s, he focused on original jazz recordings, releasing albums on ECM Records and collaborating with Jan Garbarek, Jakob Bro, Tord Gustavsen, and Arild Andersen. Parallel to recording, he served as musical director and bandleader for televised programs on France 3, France 2, and appeared on BBC music specials. He has also performed at festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, and Jazz à Vienne.
Katché's style blends rock sensibilities with subtleties of modern jazz, incorporating rhythmic motifs from West Africa, Caribbean rhythms, and contemporary European harmonic approaches. He cites influences from drummers like John Bonham, Ringo Starr, Tony Williams, Bill Bruford, and Peter Erskine while drawing compositional inspiration from Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, and Keith Jarrett. His approach emphasizes groove, space, and texture, often integrating melodic percussion and dynamic restraint heard in works with Jan Garbarek and ECM Records contemporaries such as Arve Henriksen and Dawn Upshaw. Critics link his sound to movements associated with fusion, contemporary jazz, and European chamber jazz scenes including artists on Blue Note and ECM labels.
Studio albums include early pop and rock session credits and solo releases spanning genres. Solo albums on ECM Records feature collaborations and compositions: - Solo and leader albums across labels including Island Records, EMI, Blue Note Records, and ECM. - Notable ECM releases featuring Jan Garbarek, Trygve Seim, Marcin Wasilewski Trio, and Jacob Anderskov. He also appears on landmark albums by Peter Gabriel, Sting, Joni Mitchell, Dire Straits, Seal, Tracy Chapman, Elton John, Peter Hammill, Simple Minds, Annie Lennox, and Youssou N'Dour. His recording career spans work with labels such as Polydor, Atlantic Records, Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.
Katché's session résumé includes collaborations with a broad array of internationally acclaimed artists: Peter Gabriel, Sting, Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Elton John, David Bowie, Sting, Bryan Ferry, The Police members, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Seal, Sade, Simple Minds, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Annie Lennox, George Michael, Howard Jones, Peter Hammill, Fish (singer), Graham Parker, Midge Ure, Tanita Tikaram, Pino Palladino, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, Joss Stone, Katie Melua, Katie Melua collaborators, Sting's band members, Jan Garbarek, Marcin Wasilewski, Tord Gustavsen, Arild Andersen, Jakob Bro, Trygve Seim, Bela Fleck and many others. He has worked in studios across London, New York City, Los Angeles, Oslo, Stockholm, Rome, Berlin, and Paris.
Katché presented music programs and specials for France Télévisions networks including France 2 and France 3, hosting sessions that featured artists from Europe, Africa, and North America. He appeared on televised concerts and documentaries related to Montreux Jazz Festival, BBC Music, NPR Music sessions, and specials for MTV and VH1. His music has appeared in film and television soundtracks produced by studios like Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Universal Pictures, and he has contributed to scoring sessions linked to directors and composers from Hollywood and European cinema, including projects associated with Luc Besson, Pedro Almodóvar, Roman Polanski, David Lynch, and Alejandro González Iñárritu contexts.
Katché has received critical acclaim and awards from institutions and festivals such as the Victoire de la Musique, Montreux Jazz Festival honors, and recognition in polls by DownBeat, Jazzwise, and MOJO magazines. He has been featured in hall-of-fame style retrospectives by BBC Radio, France Inter, and industry bodies connected to IFPI and SNEP. His recordings on ECM Records have been shortlisted for European jazz awards and have been nominated in categories by national music academies in France, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
Category:French drummers Category:ECM Records artists Category:1958 births Category:Living people