Didier Lockwood

Didier Lockwood had a diverse career, ranging from fusion to swing and advanced hard bop. He played in French avant-prog outfit Magma in the 1970s, and in the '80s he was considered next in the line of great French violinists after Stéphane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty. He played in Paris with Aldo Romano and Daniel Humair, among others, and met Grappelli and toured with him. He had a fusion group called Surya and recorded with Tony Williams around the same period of time (1979). Lockwood continued to perform and record, with a large discography as leader or collaborator extending well into the first two decades of the new millennium. He died in Paris in February 2018 at the age of 62. ~ Scott Yanow