André Ceccarelli

André Ceccarelli after learning to play the drums from his father, at the age of fifteen Ceccarelli began playing in the halls of the Hotel Royal Nice Promenade des Anglais, where he performed with some musicians during weekend teas.

Noticed by a lady who was John Tosan’s wife, he was introduced to brothers John Rob a.k.a. Jean-Claude and James Fawler a.k.a. Gerard Roboly, and at their request attended the rehearsals of the French rock group Les Chats Sauvages, which was looking for a new drummer, and was hired at the age of 16 in May 1962, which corresponds to the beginning of his long career.

After nearly two years, several tours and many recordings with this band, he left the group in January 1964 to resume his position as drummer in the Casino Sporting Club Monaco band, 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 was able to do so when he became an active studio musician.

André Ceccarelli since the late 1960s has collaborated with arranger and trumpeter Ivan Jullien, with whom he recorded the album “Synthesis” (1978).

He also participated in the short-lived group Troc (1972) with Jannick Top and Alex Ligertwood and signed two fusion-style albums, one for the Bingow label, recorded between 1972 and 1973, the other for the Carla label in 1977.

In 1974 he played in Jean-Claude Naude’s orchestra and participated in the album A New Kind of Band.