HS French Connection
Biography HS French Connection
Patrick Manzecchi
was born in Paris (F) in 1969. He is the son of Franco Manzecchi who was one of Europe’s most in-demand drummers of his generation (Chet Baker, Bud Powell, Eric Dolphy, Clark Terry, Dexter Gordon to name a few). The father tragically dies in 1979 after moving from Paris to Konstanz (D) in 1977 with his family. „The loss of my beloved daddy drove me to Jazz. Strangely enough, I immediately was attracted to the music and not necessarily to the drums at first“, says Patrick, and „Jazz was and is my solace, my sanctuary“. Nevertheless, the 10 years old son Patrick starts to play daddy’s drums, rather by coincidence, just for fun, and soon tries to copy what the drummers do he listens to. His love, his motivation indeed are not so much the drummers but the musical universe itself: Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie are his early heroes – a bit later, at age thirteen, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and many more join in. But there’s no great music without great drummers. So, until now Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Shelly Manne, Stan Levey, his father Franco Manzecchi, Jimmy Cobb, Albert ‚Tootie‘ Heath, Vernell Fournier, Frankie Dunlop, Ben Riley, Alan Dawson, Sam Woodyard, Joe Harris, Billy Higgins, ‚Jabali‘ Billy Hart, Joe Chambers, Jack deJohnette, Al Foster, Daniel Humair, Jon Christensen (who endows Patrick with his famous Gretsch drum set), Peter Erskine, Bill Stewart, Victor Lewis, Kenny Washington and Jeff ‚Tain‘ Watts remain under his favorite influences on the instrument. Other drummers from the Soul and Fusion era are Clide Stubblefield, Bernard ‚Pretty‘ Purdie, Steve Jordan, Alex Acuna, Vince Wilburn, Dennis Chambers, Billy Cobham, Mike Clark, Steve Gadd. In his teens, he even manages to watch most of them in live which calls Patrick to be very decisive for him. He notes about his idols while interviewed: „It’s about personality!“
After graduating school Patrick begins his studies of languages (italian/french) but quits and finally opts entirely for Music after all those years. He’s freelancing quite a time and soon former Duke Ellington-bassist Jimmy Woode recognizes his undeniable talent and announces him funnily as „King of Schlagzeugwerk“ at concerts while worldwide renowned pianist Barry Harris (Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley) adds the confirmation „You really know the stuff.“ after a remarkable one week stint together in 1999 – and it is exactly that year too that Patrick works for the first time with another mentor of him, the unmatched legend Richie Beirach (Stan Getz, Dave Liebman, Chet Baker) who calls him to be „the most talented drummer in Germany“ back then, what heavily motivates Patrick to go ahead and finally become a complete and professional drummer: he decides to visit the drum school „Drummer’s Focus“ in Stuttgart to learn how to read music although being completely self-taught. Patrick Manzecchi never stopped to grow musically ever since and has always appreciated to encounter new challenges – from all traditional Jazz forms over Free to Rock and Funk.
